


Danganronpa - Crack of Hope

by Zipidee



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Class Trials, Death, Deaths, Despair, Execution, Female Character, Hope, Killing, Male Character - Freeform, Male OCs, Male Protagonist, Mastermind, Murder, Other, Violence, executions, female OCs - Freeform, killing game, monokuma - Freeform, teen, trial, ultimate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25050196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zipidee/pseuds/Zipidee
Summary: Welcome To Sanctuary Academy! A place where all Ultimates can meet and hone their unique talents through classes and training! Each class will have about 16 people in, so you can get to know each other and make good friends along the way! Here, you are in a safe haven, and your stay will be amazing! Now, you may think this is some over-the-top prestigious boarding school, but rest assure you can go home over the holidays, and it's not like you'll be trapped here forever!Well, that's what they said. Of course, not every promise can be kept, and that last one... It seems like some movie or some nightmare, and you'd be right. It does sound like one. But it's true. Something's wrong, and there's only sixteen of us. Only sixteen. Yeah, the world may seem nice, but it's more despair than you could ever handle.Forced to kill. No memories after before we arrived. Just your typical horror and nightmare. Some may think of it as a game. And it is. A sick and twisted game.All we need is a crack of hope and we can end it all.
Kudos: 3





	1. Wake up sleepyhead

**Author's Note:**

> The Protagonist is here, and must find what's going on while locked in an abandoned classroom.

His head slammed down onto the wooden desk, rustling and ruffling his black hair forward and back, finally resting his fringe onto his dark brown eyes, and tickling them a little, as if you were to tickle someone's nose for some kind of prank or practical joke while they slept, so their hand would fly forward and catch something like shaving foam to their own face, in which then you would laugh and joke, while also possibly catching it on video, looking at the slight rage in their eyes after you have woken them from their slumber or afternoon nap. He awoke, tired and with slight bags under his eyes, though not heavily evident, with his eyes glimmering and shining from the reflections from the lit up board in front of him, still working yet no one was around to keep it on. Had he been sleeping for so long? He was never one to doze off in class, and he'd only just arrived at Sanctuary Academy, hadn't he? He stood, brushing off his light grey hoodie, unzipped over his white t-shirt with a gold and silver pattern on, forming crosses or checks over the top in its design. He saw that his black trousers had marks, so once again brushed off the evident dust, which he speculated was from the bottom of the desk he was sat and sleeping on. He brushed his finger underneath the desk, revealing a layer of white-grey dust scattered over the top of his fingertip, which he promptly brushed back onto his hoodie, then brushed his hand over it once more, releasing the scattered particles over onto the floor below him. He then noticed his Right trainer's lace had seemingly become undone, so propped the black and grey shoe on the chair he was sitting on, and did it as fast as he could. He sighed, then looked around.   
'Man... This is not where I was expecting to have slept... Wait... what's that...?' He walked over to the left of the green-wallpapered classroom, and stood in shock. Before him, there were large silver metal plates and large bolts where the windows should have been, even looking slightly rusted around some places as if they had been there for months or years already. He stood in shock and awe at how a feat could have been performed in such a short time. Once again he pondered. He'd only just got there, right? How could this be possible? Maybe he was at the back of the school where they were renovating...? It didn't look like it, from when he'd come in, and now he'd fallen asleep and nobody was in the classroom? That was surely abnormal considering this place was supposed to be such a famed place to be able to go to, being one of the greats for Ultimates, even being able to combat the apparent best, Hope's Peak Academy, which was clearly saying something. But, after all of that, he just had to come to terms with three things. Firstly, his name was Mojiretsu Zabieru. That was clear as clear could be. Secondly, He'd only just got here, and he shouldn't just judge something on the first impression or first look, right? Then thirdly, He was the Ultimate Lucky Student. He should be happy he's here. After all, he won the lottery to get in, and getting to be with Ultimates is lucky enough, let alone getting in and having classes with them for at least a few years. He walked around the classroom, inspecting the clock on one of the walls, which when closer looked at had a small image of a bear in the middle, half white, half black. 'Interesting design... also...' He stopped. 'Where are the hands?' He noticed the hands were missing as well, then stood on a desk next to the clock on the wall, carefully inspecting the side and only finding spikes, furrowing his brows as he realised they had either been jaggedly removed or cut with some sort of strong tool. He jumped down with a thud, then inspected the bottom of his shoes, finding more dust. 'Do they not clean often? How long's it been since someone else was in here?'

  
Mojiretsu pressed his right hand to the upper right side of his face, covering part of his eye, eyebrow, forehead and part of his hair, then moved it around in circles, slightly massaging that side, due to his thoughts mixed with his tiredness still lingering. He tried to get out his phone from his inside pocket of his hoodie that his older sister had fashioned for him to check what the actual time was, but to no avail. 'My phone... I haven't got it?' He was left confused and stunned. Nobody else really knew about his inside pocket. It looked just like a boring hoodie, after all. He decided to walk further around the room, confused by the décor and the apparent repetitions and depictions of a small bear with a half white half black aesthetic, or a monochrome design as well. Furthermore, he had also found two yellow and black security cameras positioned in the room he was in, which he also found frankly confusing and abnormal. He pondered on the door, thinking of whether he should leave or not, but tried the door regardless. Clack. The doorknob twisted slightly, but refused to move past a certain point. 'It's locked...' His eyebrows furrowed once more in confusion after finding out the fact, then proceeded to try and push and pull the door, and try to keep twisting the doorknob, but with no luck at all. He sighed, turning around, and only then did he discover the piece of paper left on one of the desks. Why was that there? Surely that wasn't there before, or was it? And if it wasn't there before, who put it there?   
Regardless, he picked up the letter and began to read.

  
_Welcome To Sanctuary Academy! A place where all Ultimates can meet and hone their unique talents through classes and training! Your class will have 16 people, being eight boys and eight girls, so you can get to know each other and make good friends along the way! Here, you are in a safe haven, and your stay will be amazing! Now, you may think this is some over-the-top prestigious boarding school, but rest assure you can go home, and it's not like you'll be trapped here forever!_

  
_You may notice that you're in one of the many classrooms in the school by now, and you may notice a few things such as the door is locked at this point. But that's okay! It's all part of the process. Each one of you have what looks like an interactive board, but is actually also a monitor used for displaying messages and visuals! We at Sanctuary Academy believe it is also important you can receive things visually as well as audibly, so we have many cameras and message monitors all over the school. Each one of you will get a message on the monitor in the classroom, one at a time, and once that is done, the door will unlock and you will follow the instructions on the message on the monitor._

  
_Before you leave the classroom, you may want to take note of the teacher's desk to the side of the monitor, as inside the draw on the desk, each of you have been assigned an E-Handbook. Now, you may be wondering what an E-Handbook is. Well, once you discover places and people, their information will be uploaded onto your E-Handbook. A map will also be displayed on your E-Handbook to show you where places are and how to get there, as well as a factfile. Before you entered the school, you had to say one thing you liked and one thing you disliked, which could have been anything from food to clothing to activities, ecetera. This is also on your factfile, along with your height, name, birthday, ultimate talent and blood type. Once you meet someone, their factfile will automatically upload to your E-Handbook, onto the Group Factfile section. There is also a presents section, a rules section, your map and also something called a Bullet Section, but this will not be needed for now, so will be explained as time goes on, so don't worry about that part just yet._

  
_Hope you enjoy your time here!_

  
The letter filled him with a slight unease. Not all of it, but mostly just the first paragraph and the end of the third. The lines 'It's not like you'll be trapped here forever!' and the 'Bullet Section' he was told not to worry about concerned him a little. What was the need to make that line in the first paragraph? Was there something he didn't know or was he just being paranoid? The Bullet Section seemed a little mysterious. After all with a name like that, who knows what it's actually for. He cautiously walked up to the teacher's desk and opened the draw, finding a small pad he assumed was an E-Handbook. Seeing it he could now say it was a little bit bigger than a phone but not too much. Mojiretsu found a large circular black button on the side of it, and pressed it, seeing his name appear with a 'welcome' in front of it. 'So... are these substitute for our phones?' He flicked through the selections. Presents, he didn't have any. Bullet, was unpressable for now, Map, could be handy once he got out of the room, Rules... another unpressable one for some reason, and finally Factfiles. He pressed the touchscreen and went onto the option, to see his own one, as none of the other students were on there yet.

  
_Name: Mojiretsu Zabieru - Ultimate: Ultimate Lucky Student - Height: 5'7 - Birthday: February 22nd - Blood type: O - Likes: Dogs - Dislikes: Broccoli_

  
'Why did they need to include my blood type? That's a little weird.' His train of thought was cut off by the board monitor flickering a little, showing an outline, but not an actual concrete figure. 

'Ehem. Testing, Testing! 1, 2! Okay, good. Hello Mojiretsu Zabieru, the Ultimate Lucky student! You are the sixteenth person to receive an announcement, so you will be the last person in the place for your class' initiation! The door will be unlocked once this has finished, and you can make your way to the gym which should be down the corridor to your right! If you get stuck, the E-Handbook has a map that can help you get there! Also, one more thing! Before initiation can begin, you must meet everyone and collect their data on your handbook, and should they choose not to say their Ultimate such as if they're scared or can't remember, on your handbook, their Ultimate will say 'Ultimate ???' Until they choose to say their Ultimate or you see their ultimate on their own E-Handbook. Okay! Happy Initiation! Oh! and by the way, my name's Kerumo, and I'll see you there once it begins!'

  
The image fizzled out, and Mojiretsu heard a Click in the direction of the door. He slowly walked over to it, and the door opened as if it had never been locked in the first place. 'Weird...' He looked to the right, immediately seeing the double blue doors at the end of the hall, so started to walk over, inspecting the corridor which was quite neat considering how dusty the classroom he was in looked, with its desks and floor. The lights in the corridor ranged from bright to dim, though the dim ones seemed to be rather scarce. Many other classrooms surrounded the corridor, notably similar-looking to his on outward appearance, though considering the décor in the room he was in, he doubted his first thought. Finally he had reached the doors, and slowly, he began to open them.


	2. Basic Introduction to seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *WARNINGS*  
> Death  
> Gory Depictions  
> Executions  
> Blood  
> Monokuma  
> Swearing (not too much though)  
> A lot of character deaths  
> Danganronpa
> 
> It goes for the whole book :)

'That makes sixteen. I'm guessing you're the last one.' Mojiretsu panned over the other fifteen people he was with right after he had come into the gym hall, seeing a variety of heights, outfits, and personalities from just looking at them. The one who had spoken seemed to be on the taller side, with dark brown hair sweeping off in a spiked formation to one side, and a mostly brown, green and silver getup with a long bag over one shoulder. 'So, you're the final one, yes? I'll have to take note.' 'You don't need to, we'll get factfiles on our handbooks.' The two who spoke then wore similar outfits, though one was male and wore a black shirt with a blue tie, blue scarf and donned glasses, and the other was female with a white shirt, black blazer and red tie with no glasses, and both wore black trousers. Both also had quite dark brown hair, though the male had it almost black. 'The hell is this? What's going down here?' Another said. Mojiretsu couldn't tell if they were a boy or girl though, with dark green short hair sweeping off to the right with a bandana-scarf looking thing around their neck, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Another interrupted, finally breaking the converation, with short dark teal hair going down to her mid-neck and flicking out at the sides. 'Why don't we meet and introduce ourselves? If that's what each announcement asked us to do to be able to start the initiation, we might as well work it out.' 

  
The group nodded in succession, and started swiftly chatting with one another in an attempt to start the initiation and finally get to know each other after their rather abnormal start. Mojiretsu spotted a girl who looked like the shortest in the group who had no-one taling to her, so went over and chatted. Her medium length hair had been fastened into two small blonde bunches, not to be confused by the other girl with bunches, with unnaturally bright yellow hair. Her hair was fastened with two clips and bobbles with balls in colours of pink, yellow and green, and wore a green dress as well, with pink, green and yellow checks below the waist, bringing out her sparkling green eyes. Her pupils were rather dialated at that time, possibly from being brought from a lighter environment to a darker one. 'Hi, I'm Tetori Emiri. Pleased to meet cha'.' She held out her hand which Mojiretsu took, as they shook hands. 'You're the Ultimate Lucky Student, right? Neat! You know, you might even be able to pick up your own Ultimate talent while you're here. I'm the Ultimate Reporter, by the way. So basically what I do is I go around interviewing people and ask them specific questions. Sometimes, i can interview famous people like politicians, Celebrities or special scientists, and sometimes they can spill something juicy if you question and pressure them hard enough. Eh, it's just what I do, and I'm good at it. Sometimes, I do a little bit of extra research and digging, and I can pull up so many things that I can potentially ruin people's whole career if I want to. But I don't, because if they're not that bad, they don't need to have that much dirt exposed, if any. Anyway, It was nice talking!' Mojiretsu looked at her as she walked away towards another person. He knew she was confident, and he definitely didn't want to get on her bad side. He then looked at his handbook to see what her factfile was.

  
_Name: Tetori Emiri - Ultimate: Ultimate Reporter - Height: 5'1 - Birthday: August 24th - Blood type: A - Likes: Planning things out - Dislikes: Taking it easy_

  
Neat. Fourteen more to go. He stumbled and almost fell over someone a little bit taller than himself , who managed to catch him in one hand. 'You good?' The boy seemed worried, then smiled, making sure that Mojiretsu was alright. 'Okay. It's nice to meet you anyway. I get you're nervous considering none of us have really met each other before.' The taller boy's warm smile still radiated around him, as Mojiretsu took account of his outfit. A black and gold striped t-shirt and hazel eyes, as well as a pair of black shorts, black trainers and high socks almost coming up to his knee as if he had just come from or was going to a sports practice. 'You're... Firuduwasu Kamaru... aren't you? You're amazing out there! I just never imagined you'd be this nice inperson. You probably seemed to me like the more... what's the word?' 'Gruff? Boyish, Ignorant, a little bit of a Chad? Yeah, I get that a lot being the Ultimate Rugby Star. They think that just because I look athletic, I'm tall, and all that jazz, they always assume that I'm just some jock of some sort. Sure, I help coach in rugby, but that's about as far as I'm gonna get. Call me Firu if you want.' He flashed another warm smile. 'You're not so bad yourself, so... see you around.' He went over towards a different person as Mojiretsu's E-Handbook flashed as it updated.

  
_Name: Firuduwasu Kamaru - Ultimate: Ultimate Rugby Star - Height: 6'0 - Birthday: June 23rd - Blood type: AB - Likes: Mountain Biking - Dislikes: Thunderstorms_

  
'Heeeey! Heeeey!' He looked around. No one was there... 'Heeeey! Lucky Man! Lucky Man!' Mojiretsu looked around again, before jumping back in surprise seeing a girl of a similar height waving her hand in front of his face. 'Lucky Man? Earth to Lucky Man!' 'Lucky Man...? What...?' He looked at her, long light blue hair coming down to her chest, with the tips of the front of her hair settling into a further dark blue colour, in some sort of diamond formation, reminding him of a game he used to play when he was younger, where you'd have to go to a specific rock and battle something to get a creature of sorts that you would want. She wore a long-sleeved tunic-dress, which was a light blue in colour, with purple diamond shapes and white-grey fluff around her neck, bottom of her dress and the bottom of her sleeves. Furthermore, she also wore grey boots with the same purple diamond shapes going up to almost her knees, with no sign of any socks or tights present, and vibrant blue eyes. He thought back to the game he used to play for a minute, then thought about her look in general. 'Hmm... If I could guess, you're... something to do with ice... maybe?' She nodded vigorously with a smile. 'Ding ding ding! Correcto! I'm Mashu Ashuri, Ultimate Ice Skater! Be it figure skating, speed skating, ice skating, coaching... I can do it all! You may know me as the six-spin figure skater! World record holder! All that stuff!' Her enthusiasm peaked even more as Mojiretsu saw her bound around talking about her Ultimate. 'Also, these boots are custom made! They fit with my favourite dress, plus they have detachable blades that I always keep on me! But... They weren't on me just now. I came here with them in my bag, but now all of our bags have gone, as well as our cellphones! How weird is that?' 'Yours too? Anyway, what's with the detachable blades thing?' 'Oh!' Her joy was back up. 'Well, there's a special locking mechanism on the underside of my boots if you know which bit to press!' She pressed a portion on the side of her boot, revealing a section and a small mechanism. 'The slight heel in the boot when it's not a skate hides the mechanism, so you can click it in and it becomes a skating boot without a slight heel! Then, the mechanism locks and you're free to skate without it coming off! I've even got detachable Rollerblade wheels that fit onto here as well, but I haven't seen those either. Anyway, was nick speaking with ya!' She ran off in another direction as the handbook updated.

  
_Name: Mashu Ashuri - Ultimate: Ultimate Ice Skater - Height: 5'5 - Birthday: July 30th - Blood Type: A - Likes: Burgers - Dislikes: Cheaters_

  
There was one other person to his left, being a girl looking like she was focussed deep into her own thoughts, being that same girl from earlier with the teal hair who broke up the various conflict and conversation about meet-ups. Mojiretsu wandered over to her cautiously, and tapped her on her shoulder. 'Hey... You okay?' The girl looked at him slowly, looking him up and down, red eyes wavering in each direction. '...Yes. I am fine. It's great to meet you.. I guess.' She still seemed to be deep in her own thoughts, focussing and tugging at her teal hoodie, which was a similar colour to her hair, but quite a bit darker. She then tugged down at her brown skirt, trying to lengthen it a little. 'I'm Mojiretsu Zabieru.' 'You're the Lucky Student... Aren't you. I'm not comfortable saying my Ultimate right now, but maybe I could say it in the future. Depends on what happens. Whatever happens will happen, I suppose. My name's Inatsu Katori, if you really need to know.' She went back to her focussed thoughts. 'Good job at settling things down.' She nodded slightly. 'Thank you.' He immediately once again checked his E-Handbook.

  
_Name: Inatsu Katori - Ultimate: Ultimate ??? - Height: 5'8 - Birthday: November 4th - Blood Type: O - Likes: Birds of Prey (E.g Falcons) - Dislikes: Poisonous Plants_

  
'Okay...?' He walked over to the right, and decided to inspect the ladders on the side of the gym wall instead, hoping that someone would come to him, instead of him forcing himself to walk over to a particular person. He looked at its wood, actually thinking whether they'd still be forced to do gym and gymnastics like he had been before. Eventually, he saw another boy with a notepad come up to him, being the one with the blue tie and glasses, swiftly followed by the girl wearing the similar outfit to him. They decided to talk to him, together rather than separately how everyone else had talked to him before. 'Hey. I'm Musoko Chari.' 'And... I'm Yusaburo Rogan.' Mojiretsu shook both of their hands, before Musoko, the girl out of the two with the red tie and the white shirt, started talking once more. 'We're twins. Non identical... obviously.' His brows furrowed a little, as he pondered over something. 'Wait. If you two are non-identical twins... shouldn't you have the same family name?' Yusaburo wrote something down on his small blue notebook, looked up, then spoke. 'Yeah, I guess... but she went a little rogue and changed it for reasons we can both understand.' Musoko nodded. 'I mean, having two people be of opposing forces yet be in the same family? That would cause conflict. Not only because of our occupations, but of other sources as well.' 'Occupations? What do you mean by that?' Musoko sighed a little. 'Oh, you must not be familiar with what it is that we do. To understand why it would cause conflict, we might as well tell you our Ultimates. Again, my name is Musoko Chari, and I am the Ultimate Prosecutor.' Something clicked a little in Mojiretsu's head, as the boy lifted his head from his notebook one more. 'The name's Yusaburo Rogan, if I haven't said it before, and I am the Ultimate Lawyer.' The pieces clicked in his head once more, realising why she had to change her name. 'You've... been up against each other in court, haven't you?' Yusaburo nodded. 'Quite a lot, actually. We're known as rivals, and we tend to cover a variety of crimes in the court as well. People call us the Jack and Maria.' 'Jack and Maria?' 'Jack of all trades is usually used, but looking at a card deck, you can easily see the Jack and Queen of spades, two very powerful and opposing cards, called Blackjack and Black Maria officially, hence the nicknames.' 'Also, if we're known as rivals, to be able to see that we're actually family would cause quite a conflict in both our careers and lives, so that's why. Hope you remember our names. Actually, scratch that.' Musoko waved her hand dismissively. 'Hope you remember everyone's names. I don't want you to forget any since we're spending classes with everyone.' The twins walked off behind him, leaving him by the ladder as his handbook flashed twice, notifying him that both of their information had been added.

  
_Name: Musoko Chari - Ultimate: Ultimate Prosecutor - Height: 5'6 - Birthday: January 10th - Blood Type: O - Likes: Doing Puzzles - Dislikes: Wearing tights_

  
_Name: Yusaburo Rogan - Ultimate: Ultimate Lawyer - Height: 5'7 - Birthday: January 9th - Blood Type: O - Likes: Noting down details - Dislikes: People criticising handwriting_

  
'Umm... hi? Can I talk to you...? Sorry if you're occupied. I'll leave if you want me to.' A boy with shortish white hair stood about three inches shorter than him, and seemed a little nervous. 'You don't have to leave. I'll talk to you. I'm Mojiretsu Zabieru, The Ultimate Lucky student. I haven't got much to really say other than I was the lottery winner. How about you?' The boy looked up, revealing shiny wide brown eyes and an orange jumper with a white shirt and grey tie underneath. 'Umm... I'm... Chidjireta Buraido, The Ultimate Linguist. Though... I'd prefer if people call me Reta.' He hugged himself slightly, crossing his arms, then gripping and tugging at his jumper. Mojiretsu then looked at him once again, trying to find something that would make him a little more confident, so maybe his talent? 'Do you know more than twelve languages? If so, could you say twelve you know and are learning? Even the one you speak normally would work as a language.' Reta seemed to have cheered up a little. 'Twelve? Let's Go. English, Spanish, French, Catalonian, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Swedish, Norwegian and Arabic' He smiled a little. 'Thanks for taking notice of my Ultimate... not many people really care normally. I guess I should chat to someone else.' Mojiretsu noticed him walk over in the direction of Mashu. 'Good luck getting to know her.' He chuckled a little before looking at his pad.

  
_Name: Chidjireta Buraido - Ultimate: Ultimate Linguist - Height: 5'4 - Birthday: March 18th - Blood Type: B - Likes: Travelling to other countries - Dislikes: Condescending people_

  
'Okay... So, how many left..? So out of the sixteen I've got myself, Tetori, Musoko, Yusaburo, Firu, Mashu, Reta and Inatsu. That's eight out of sixteen including me. I guess I should go find the others...'


	3. Basic introduction to eight

He panned over, looking around at the other eight and seeing more different types of personalities, just by looking at them. He'd talked to seven, and gotten eight factfiles including his own, making up half of the student class he had been placed within, so needed to collect the databases of the other eight before initiation could begin. The first person that had caught his eye was undoubtedly the tallest girl, standing around two or three inches above him, with long black hair resting down her back, and a bun still forming on the top of her head. She wore a purple long sleeved top or shirt, Mojiretsu couldn't tell, a bow on said top or shirt, as well as a turquoise skirt that poofed out as it went down towards her knees. Another interesting fact about her seemed to be that she was heterochromic, having one eye blue, and one eye green. 'Interesting... I guess I should go up...' He slowly walked up to her, and tapped her shoulder. She swung around, arms crossed, then unfolded them and began tapping her right leg with one finger. 'I've literally got no inspiration at all from this place! Like seriously, how long are we going to be here with all the creepy aesthetics and lockdown apocalypse vibes?' Mojiretsu looked at her in confusion. 'Why do you need inspiration, exactly?' She blinked, then looked at him. 'Oh. Pardon moi, off topic. I am Shutain Rushi. Fashion designer, runway representative, hostess, but the thing I'm really known for is being the Ultimate Model. Like, I may be a designer, but I also like to show off what I've made, you know? So basically I work part time model, part time designer, full time Ultimate.' Mojiretsu nodded. 'Um... I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student, And the name's Mojiretsu Zabieru.' 'Neato burrito, is it okay if I call you Zabi?' 'Zabi?' 'Yeah. I prefer calling everyone nicknames that are shorter than their names so I can A, remember them better, and B, feel like I'm getting closer to the group. It's like with some people, like Reta, Tana and Firu, they prefer being called that nickname, and with others, like you and Kat, I gave!' She smiled, before looking at Mojiretsu. 'You do know all those people, right?' 'Well... Reta is Chidjireta Buraido, Firu is Firuduwasu Kamaru, and Kat is Inatsu Katori, but I don't know who Tana is.' Shutain looked at him, just blinking a few times. 'Okay. I'll get you two to meet, and I'll walk away.' 'Wait—' 'Tana! Come over here!'

He barely had any time to check anything before he saw the person he couldn't deduce of whether was a boy or girl, being the one with short green hair, a bandana-scarf around their neck, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts with trainers. Seeing them closer, they also owned a small satchel-esc bag hung across their body and resting on their right. 'Tana!' The black-haired girl tried to hug the person, but shoved her away, and rolled their eyes. 'Look. Just because I said I preferred to be called Tana, doesn't mean you can get all 'buddy buddy' with me. If I want to be friends in the future, I'll be friends with you in the future. I'm not into physical contact.' 'Okay!' Shutain walked off, as Mojiretsu saw the drastic height difference between the two. She was a lot taller than the person she called 'Tana', as Shutain was a lot taller than he was, and Tana stood a few inches smaller. They sighed, before speaking. 'First off, My name is Ansutana Bioretto, but as Shutain just said,' they pointed at the taller black haired girl he had just spoken to, 'I prefer to go by Tana. It's an easier nickname. Easier to remember and all that crap. Second. If you didn't know because of how I look, I am a girl. Girl, Female, she, you get the gist, as most people upon meeting me assume I'm a boy. Third. Just because you know my name and what nickname I prefer, doesn't mean we're friends just yet. I don't know you enough, and if you attempt to get too close, My Teasel will be on your case. I got two pairs of eyes and two pairs of ears here.' 'My... Teasel...?' She looked up and sighed. 'Really haven't said my talent, have I? I'm crap at introductions. I'm the Ultimate Animal Keeper, and this is Teasel.' She lifted up part of her scarf and took out a small brown and white hamster. 'She's my comfort animal. I got her from a very good friend of mine, actually, who's about five or six years older than we are, who deals with a lot of animals himself. Apparently, he went and found love with the princess of his dreams, but I don't know if it's true, considering his mentality and personality. I wonder what happened to him after all these years.' She seemed to talk in a nicer tone when talking about certain topics, especially her friends and animals. 'You've got a lot of concern for him, huh?' 'Well, yeah! Why the heck wouldn't I!? He's pretty much one of the only genuine friends I had before coming to this locked-tight dusty dump of a place. Like haven't you seen how dirty the classes are? Talk about abandonment.' She then gave a short two finger salute as a goodbye. 'See ya around, I guess.' She walked away, as Mojiretsu looked at his E-Handbook for both of the girls' factfiles.

_Name: Shutain Rushi - Ultimate: Ultimate Model - Height: 5'9 - Birthday: December 17th - Blood Type: A - Likes: Anything that can inspire designs - Dislikes: Colours that don't go well together_

_Name: Ansutana Bioretto - Ultimate: Ultimate Animal Keeper - Height: 5'3 - Birthday: May 8th - Blood Type: O - Likes: Helping at Animal Shelters - Dislikes: Abuse of people/animals_

'Those two's likes and dislikes were a little bit on the nose for their talent... Did they think it had to be that way? Six more... There's the boy with blonde spiky hair, the girl with the green suit that I can't tell is for a mechanic or martial artist, The girl with bright yellow hair and yellow eyes, the boy with the green headset and red hair, the boy with the silver pins and brown spiky hair, and the boy with purple hair who looks the tallest out of us all...' He listed to himself, to see who he had missed, jumping slightly as the shorter boy with the headset managed to sneak up to him, though being one of the shortest had both its advantages and disadvantages in his case. He wore a red, brown and green top and set of trousers, probably a matching set. he wore a silver and black belt, otherwise, with a small image of a brown and red flame across it, though he couldn't read the apparent lettering it seemed to also possess. He donned short red hair, and brown eyes, which his apparel also complimented, plus the green pair of headphones with a microphone he also wore around his neck. 'Hey... I heard you listing people you hadn't met, and thought one kinda sounded like me. You know, green headset and red hair, nobody else wears a headset or has red hair, so... thought I'd come check out who I hadn't seen. You know who the girl is with the blue hair and the energetic personality? Just want to be ready in case I'm not prepared, honestly.' 'Oh, that's Mashu Ashuri. She's the Ultimate Ice Skater, and she'll go on about how some of her things are missing for a while. She gave me a full-on talk about how her ice-skates detach from her boot, why they're missing and all that.' The shorter boy nodded. 'Okay. By the way, the name's Susoage Hari, Ultimate Racer. Cars, Bikes, Motorbikes, I've even tried an actual race car they use on the track and won a race with it. You know the deal. I know it's just initiation, so I don't really need to go all out with all the talk just now. We'll have time in the future, it's not like anyone's going anywhere judging how the rules have been set on that monitor.' He stretched his shoulders back, then carried on. 'I have to admit, the letters they gave us were a little ominous. They appeared out of nowhere, and then this creepy shadow under the name Kerumo comes along, and we don't even know what he or she actually looks like! Or they could be a they, for all we know. I don't want to disrespect here. Gotta go meet the Ice Skater with prep. Bye.' Susoage ran off and waved, as he ran to the direction of Mashu, who was still taller than him, as Mojiretsu once again looked at his handbook. At least after five more people, he wouldn't have to really look at it much.

_Name: Susoage Hari - Ultimate: Ultimate Racer - Height: 5'2 - Birthday: October 29th - Blood type: B - Likes: Thrill Rides - Dislikes: Wasted free time_

'So, five more to go. I think I should just walk up to them, it's what everyone else is doing.' Mojiretsu scanned to look for the five people he hadn't met yet, eyes finally landing on the girl with the green suit that he couldn't tell was for a martial artist or a mechanic, then trying to walk closer, and finally tapping her shoulder like so many people had done to him. She swiftly turned around, accidentally elbowing him in between his shoulder and chest, then clasping both hands to her mouth. Her blue eyes showed genuine fear and concern for him, as she shook her messy brown hair to the side, then started rubbing the area that she had elbowed him. 'I am so, so sorry. It's a reflex whenever someone gets too close, I end up turning around too quickly. You... alright...?' Mojiretsu nodded. 'Yeah. I'm good. Just a little ache.' She patted him on his right shoulder. 'Good. I don't think we've met, actually. My name is Kosako Eimi, and I'm the Ultimate Engineer. I doubt you would've ever heard of me, but hello regardless.' 'Wait a minute... your accent... it sounds a little... what's the word?' 'British? English? Yes, I think that would be it. I originally lived in England up until I was about thirteen, fourteen-ish before we moved, and I have family here as well as there. It's how I know a few languages, though I'm not too fluent in others. Helps with any job where I'm working with someone who speaks something like Spanish which I learnt at school for four years. I don't know. Hope people are actually nice and don't bully me because I'm a girl who does engineering. People used to do that when I was younger because I wasn't girly enough for them, those damn popular people. I had my own friends though, both back in the UK and here when I moved, but for some reason I can only remember one of their names, being Hapu Sukoto. He was an amazing person who did physics with me, but people thought that just because a boy and a girl can be friends, they're obviously going out, when that's clearly not the case!' She sighed. 'Sorry for going off topic there. I think we should talk later. You're a good listener, and you've got patience. Maybe we could be friends?' She smiled slightly, checking her handbook, as he had done for everyone else as well. He thought he might as well check it out too.

_Name: Kosako Eimi - Ultimate: Ultimate Engineer - Height: 5'3 - Birthday: April 26th - Blood Type: O - Likes: Butterscotch - Dislikes: Having long nails_

'She's an engineer, huh? That explains why the suit does look like a little like a mechanic or engineer's. So... four left.' Once again, he looked around, spotting two of the tallest out of the sixteen, being the purple-haired boy, and the blonde spiky haired boy as well. He went up to the both of them, as he thought he'd prefer to get everyone over with as quick as possible. The taller of the two, being the one with purple hair stood to face him. He was tanned, with a red biker-esc jacket, which also reminded him of a game he had played in the past, in which a character he had grown fond of had worn a similar jacket, and hair covering his eye that hid a nasty scar and a nasty personality underneath his kind façade. He glanced back at the boy, then at his other items of clothing, being that he donned a black t-shirt with a pink dripping X on it, and at the top of the X on each side, there seemed to be a small oval attached to each line, filled in the same colour as the X itself. On top of that, he wore faded blue jeans that gave him 'bad boy vibes' as some would call it. He then looked over to the other boy who had now turned to face him, who was to shorter in comparison to the purple-haired boy beside him, yet still taller than Mojiretsu himself. His white-blonde hair was similar in colour to Tetori's, and spiked up in all directions, yet mostly upward at the same time. He wore a light green hoodie, with a grey gilet on top, as well as a pair of grey joggers of sorts, and a pair of black trainers. The purple haired one rolled his eyes, then sighed. 'What do you want?' The blonde-haired one then swiftly interrupted. 'Dude, everyone needs to update the handbooks, remember?' The purple haired one smirked. 'If it's an introduction you want, it's an introduction you'll get. My name is Boruto Finrei, and I am the Ultimate Drummer. The youngest person, and third person ever, to ever complete the Kyukyoku Dorama Solo, with one of the highest ever tallies of percussion used, and the most ever used by a single person. There are points everywhere used, from a full stage to a specific higher tier elevator stage to get to each level. If you can play the solo flawlessly, which I have done, only then can you ever earn the title of the Ultimate Drummer. Many have tried but failed, showing the superiority of my skill to date. That good enough for you? I need to get things over with so I can actually do all this crap that's needed. I'll leave you to him.' He walked off, leaving the blonde-haired boy to talk to Mojiretsu afterwards.

'Dude, you've really gotta appreciate people's skills and Ultimates here, you know? Being the Ultimate Drummer must have taken a load of hard work, and then there's people like the Ultimate Ice Skater and the Ultimate Racer, and that's a heck ton of hard work as well! What's your Ultimate, anyway? You never said. Boruto kinda just wants to get things over quickly, I guess. He's trying to see who he think he'd be friends with anyway, and he likes the ideas of Ansutana, Kosako, Inatsu, and me so far I think. It's his instinct.' 'I'm Mojiretsu Zabieru, the Ultimate Lucky Student. It's not really that good or skilful though.' 'So untrue! If you get in by luck, that's still something! By the way, I'm Shimonzu Zakku, Ultimate Free Runner. Cross country, parkour, building running, you name it. Eh, it was good meeting you anyway. See ya.' He ran towards Boruto, trying to succeed in the one friendship he thought he'd just gained and latched onto. He went on to check his handbook.

_Name: Boruto Finrei - Ultimate: Ultimate Drummer - Height: 6'2 - Birthday: September 16th - Blood type: A - Likes: Being in music bands - Dislikes: Being stuck alone_

_Name: Shimonzu Zakku - Ultimate: Ultimate Free Runner - Height: 5'10 - Birthday: October 15th - Blood Type: B - Likes: Music with beats - Dislikes: Icy weather_

'Two more. I've got the unnaturally yellow haired girl and the brown spiky haired boy left, and then it's all over for any introductions, and Initiation can finally begin.' He looked over, trying to spot the two he hadn't met before in the small crowd of sixteen, mingling and chatting, finally spotting the Yellow-haired girl next to Tetori and Looking at her handbook, then looked over to his direction and noticed neither of them had met each other as of yet, blinking her bright yellow eyes, then casually walking up to him. 'Hey! I'm Sugi Sessusha, the Ultimate Psychologist! If you need help or you're feeling a little down, I'll always be there to help anyone in need!' 'You're oddly... optimistic for this situation.' 'Well, you had those things on the windows, right? They looked metal, and kinda shady, but there's got to be a valid reason for it... right? Maybe it's renovation, or the school doing something outside for us! Whatever it is, I've got to stay optimistic in any situation, no matter how harsh it may be. After all, to help other people, you've still got to help yourself and be happy! It's my motto. I hear you're the lucky student, so welcome as well! I'll see ya around!' She skipped off to another group, leaving him a little confused of how she wasn't nervous at all during the whole situation. But then again, he realised she was the Ultimate Psychologist, so learned a lot about the mind and emotions and all that, maybe her tactic?

_Name: Sugi Sessusha - Ultimate: Ultimate Psychologist - Height: 5'6 - Birthday: May 31st - Blood Type: AB - Likes: Lollipops - Dislikes: Blackberries_

'One left. One final person i need to--' He was cut off by someone swinging around his arm slightly, then giving him double finger guns, finally returning back to a calm composure, still with the finger guns out. 'You looking for me? You're the only one I haven't seen so... yeah. Guess you're the Lucky student.' He reached out his hand, which Mojiretsu took, shaking it, before returning to normal. 'The name's Naruhodo Ryoshi. Ultimate Archer. But I could see if you would have already guessed already by my getup and bow bag on my back, but it hasn't got the bow or arrows in, at the moment.' he showed a large bag on his shoulder, then Mojiretsu looked at the Archer's Getup, being a lot of brown and green, with a red scarf, brown boots and a wolf pin on his scarf. 'Oh, you were looking at this? My brother got it for me. You know, we both ended up going into the occupation the other wanted when we were younger. When I was younger, I was always fascinated by history, especially the Aztecs and Mayans, and the sacrifices they used to do. One that especially intrigued me was a person was tied to a pillar or block, then shot at with arrows or stabbed everywhere except for the head and heart, then finally either shot or stabbed in the heart for the final blow!' 'Are you alright? I don't want to think about death and sacrifice if that's okay. You said your brother wanted to be the archer, right?' 'Yep. Exactly. Then we realise He's the History one and I'm the Archer, And I end up being an Ultimate on top of that. It's a bit crazy. I gotta go see if anyone hasn't met yet, buh-bye.' He walked off, leaving Mojiretsu to look at his handbook for the final time. 'Last one for the handbook.'

_Name: Naruhodo Ryoshi - Ultimate: Ultimate Archer - Height: 5'11 - Birthday: February 11th - Blood Type: O - Likes: History (Subject) - Dislikes: Wasps_

_*Ding Dong Ding Dong*_

The bell went off once more, showing that everyone had met each other and initiation would be starting soon, then Kerumo's Voice boomed throughout the Gymnasium.

'Well! I see everyone's met each other and seen their handbooks! Now... It's finally Initiation tiiiime!'


	4. Keru and Mono

Mojiretsu looked around at the stage set up in the gymnasium, as well as the other sixteen, in which a pedastal had been set up with a microphone, where the sound should have come from, yet no-one stood there. As soon as he thought that, a small two-toned stuffed cat appeared on the stand, bouncing onto its open space. It was half white, half yellow, and had a white nose as well as a black eye on the white side, and a white eye on the yellow side, plus a black bow tie also sewn into it, and a completely white ovular belly with a small grey sewn X where the bellybutton would have most likely been. 'What the-- Is this some kind of joke?' Boruto shouted across the hall, falling on the deaf ears of the cat. 'It's gotta be, hasn't it?' Shutain responded, still falling on the cat's deaf ears. 'Should I... go up there?' Inatsu walked up on the stage, only finding the small hole in which the stuffed animal had bounced up from, and the stuffed cat itself on the pedestal. 'It's literally just a stuffed animal. Who the heck is playing this joke on us and how did they get it out of that hole? It's just empty. There's no wires or anything, and it looks quite big and heavy as well.' Inatsu became more confused as she began poking and prodding the creature, then eventually picked it up. 'You know, it's actually pretty cute.' 'Thanks!' Immediately, Inatsu screamed, put the cat back on the pedestal, and ran from the stage. 'What the hell?! That thing responded to me!'The cat then did the most peculiar thing, and stood up on the pedestal much to the surprise of the sixteen, then... it started talking. 'Thanks for calling me cute, Inatsu.' 'It... It knows my name!' The cat looked around, stopping on Inatsu. 'Of course I know your name! I know all of your names, for I am Kerumo, your squeezably soft meowin' teacher!' Judging by its voice, it was clearly shown that this new teacher was a female, and especially sounded like it now. 'You've gotta be kidding me.' Tana said, then Susoage spoke afterwards. 'Well, this school's full of surprises. The locked rooms, the lockdown vibes, the monitors, maybe it's a new experiment or something.' 'Indeed!' Kerumo spoke through the microphone, smiling somehow.

'I may be stuffed, but I am still your teacher! Now, I will introduce and address a few things! Firstly, your missing items! Everyone will have two items that they have taken here originally, but are now missing!' What came after came a chorus of people from the group exclaiming what they had just noticed or realised was missing, such as 'My skates!' 'My bow!' 'My spare heels!' and 'My spanner!' before Kerumo spoke once again. 'These items are going to actually be inside someone else's room, and neither of your items will be in the same room either! You might have to gain a friendship bond to access their room at all to get your things back! And no, you can't all meet up and get all the items from your rooms and ask whose is whose while putting them all out there, as that would be cheating! If you want to find out whose is each object, maybe find out the items in your room and find who would be most fitting, then ask about it? If that works, then maybe you can all become great friends while you stay here! Also, there's a little thing called a hope shard, made up of a level! The more time you spend with others, the more that level fills up, and it'll show you have a shard on your E-handbook, so you can be proud of your achievements!' 'So... all we have to do is get our stuff back and interact with people? Okay...' Mojiretsu was the one to speak himself this time, directing his words back at Kerumo herself. 'Yep! Exactly! You sixteen Ultimates are staying here for a little while before classes begin, as you guys are the new group, and every group gets to spend some time with each other. As days go by, more the school will be available to you, and you will get to experience more of everyone's interests! Everyone's rooms are on this floor, as well as a dining hall that will always have food for you, a kitchen which is always stocked so you can make yourself food as well, a few classrooms, a library, this gymnasium and there is also a floor below here which is unlocked as well, consisting of a gym, pool, changing rooms and a bath house with a sauna if that's your kind of thing as well.'

'That's an awful lot of things just for a short stay, right? And you said there's more.' Susoage questioned. 'Are you sure there aren't any other plans for us here? Did you even notice how all the windows are covered?' Kerumo cocked her head to one side, before carrying on as if he hadn't asked the question at all. 'Anyway. Next I'll explain--' She was cut off by a rumbling sound as the ground shook slightly, and her face widened in fear, as if she could actually do that. Mojiretsu also stepped back in fear, as if the group were doomed, and death was looming upon them, and in some cases, it may have just well have been. 'No! It... It can't be! Not... not now! Please no!' Kerumo seemed to be shouting at the new unknown presence edging towards them, as if casting off a demon back to its wicked dimension of whence it came. And then...

It appeared.

A second stuffed animal, this one far more menacing-looking than Kerumo, as a Monochrome Bear, being half and half, similar to her as well, being half white, yet half black with an evil sharp eye on the black side, a blood-red in colour, and a menacing grin on its face, though also only on the black side. The white side's eye was black, being very similar to hers, and bore a white bears muzzle, the same on both sides, with the same white ovular belly and X that Kerumo also had. It looked like it had a constant devilish grin and smirk, making it more nerve-wrecking and horrifying to look at than its counterpart. 'Please tell me this one doesn't speak too.' Tana spoke irritably. 'Well, of course I do! I am Monokuma! This school's Headmaster! As for you, Kerumo... HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY SPOTLIGHT! This... IS MY PLACE!' All the students recoiled in fear as the angry bear, otherwise known as Monokuma, stood before them in anger towards their apparent teacher, then claimed to be their headmaster? It couldn't be possible, Right? Mojiretsu looked at the fear of everyone, before looking back at the bear, regaining its composure. 'Puhuhuhu! Did I scare ya? This is my school, so my rules! Not some friendship is magic crap that Kerumo wants! Her opinions don't matter! Anyway... Where was I? Alright! The game...' 'What... what kind of game? What are you playing at? Tell us!' Musoko shouted towards him. 'Oh! Did Kerumo not tell you? You aren't just staying here for just a short while, you're staying here forever!' 'What do you mean!? This has to be some sort of joke!' Yusaburo questioned next. 'Well, forever is for the rest of your lives! Unless... you want to leave? Do you want to leave or not?' 'Of course we want to leave! What are you, some sort of psycho?' Naruhodo shouted.

'Puhuhuhu! Don't go calling me that! I'm not the psycho here, some of you guys will be the psychos in the future when you end up snapping!' 'What do you mean?' Inatsu asked. 'Well, to escape, all ya gotta do is kill someone! It's a Killing Game! Strangulation! Hit 'em in the head! Stabbing! Electrocution! Fire! Ice! Drowning! Crushing! All that stuff is ready and waiting! It's in the rules!' The group looked at him with both fear and confusion, as he carried on. 'Everyone! Get out your handbooks! The rules are open, and I'll read 'em!' The sixteen resulted in getting out their handbooks and pressing the finally pressable 'Rules section', and reading them as Monokuma began to explain.

'Rule 1: Any student who wishes to graduate and escape the school must commit murder and become part of the killing school life. They will be known as the Blackened.

Rule 2: The Blackened, or the person who has committed the murder, must accomplish it and get away with it to be able to graduate and escape the academy.

Rule 3: Once a murder has taken place, a class trial will take place in a specific location to be able to identify the Blackened. All trials are mandatory, aside from the students who are dead, of course.

Rule 4: During the trial, the final vote will be cast as a majority vote on who the class thinks the Blackened is. If the majority are right, the killer alone will be punished.

Rule 5: However, if the majority guess wrong during a class trial, the killer will get to leave, and the rest of the students will be punished.

Rule 6: This will repeat if the students keep casting majority correct votes until there is a specific amount of students left, and the final trial will begin.

Rule 7: No harm is to come to Headmaster Monokuma. If it is severe enough, punishment will be given to the one who has harmed him.

Rule 8: Night time begins at 10pm and ends at 7am. Some areas may be closed off during this time and you are recommended to sleep during this time.

Rule 9: Accomplices get nothing out of it if the Blackened gets away with murder, unless they commit murder themselves, as else they would not be known as the Blackened, so they will be punished along with everyone else.

Rule 10: A Blackened person cannot kill more than two people.

Rule 11: Sometimes if two killers kill two people, the class may be let known during the trial of whether the Blackened is one single person, or two different people. If one is guessed but not the other, just the guessed Blackened will be punished, as the class did technically guess right. If neither are guessed, both Blackened get to escape and everyone gets punished, and if both are guessed, both Blackened will be individually punished and the killing school life will continue.

Rule 12: Neither Headmaster Monokuma nor Kerumo can interfere with or commit a murder.

Rule 13: A body discovery announcement will play when three or more students discover a body. This does not include the Blackened while they are killing, only after the killing is done and they come back or 'Discover' for themselves.

Rule 14: Further rules may be added if necessary.'

The students looked at one another, conversing for a short moment among the group, speaking things such as 'Punishment? What's that?' 'Blackened? You mean we have to murder?' And 'Trial? Just because we do it doesn't mean we have to do it here, right?'

'What do you mean by punishment, exactly? The word keeps repeating.' Kosako spoke up. 'Punishment... Punishment... Punishment... what's another word for it...? Ah! That would be Execution!' The students gasped at that statement. 'And... What's better is that you each have an execution fitting for your talent! Take for example... An Animal Keeper Execution, or an Ice Skater Execution! Wow... That really reminds me of something... how beautiful...' Mashu became slightly angered by that statement. 'Well, Spit it out!' 'Wellllll... There were once two people who were in the same group, who you two might have known a while back... A Breeder and a Team Manager!' 'What do you mean... What happened to them?!' Mashu shouted once more. Monokuma laughed. 'Puhuhu! I let their group starve to death until a murder was committed! And then... Here comes the juicy part... One went ahead and killed the other! And... this is even juicer... The killer got punished and died from a stampede! He sure couldn't protect himself, even if he wanted to! I wouldn't be surprised if the Ice Skater and Animal Keeper tried to kill each other like those two did!'

'Wha-- How-- Why...' Mojiretsu spluttered out. 'Because it's fun! Watching people kill each other is going to be so fun to watch! Unless... you actually want to leave and go back to your families and friends who are missing you so much! Puhuhuhu!' 'You really are some sort of psycho, Mono-whatever-your-name-is.' Tana retorted. 'What makes you think that just because we're trapped in here, that's gonna make us kill each other?' 'Oooooh! A resistant one, have we? That's the sorta spirit I like! Oh... There's two more things I forgot before you can go off to your own devices... the first being the fact of your memories.' The students looked at him with confusion. 'What about our memory?' Sugi asked with concern. 'Well... let's just ask a few of you a question. Shutain, Sugi, Susoage, Tetori, Firuduwasu, How old are you?' The five answered then in the order their names were called. 'sixteen', 'fifteen', 'sixteen', 'fifteen', 'fifteen... aren't we all fifteen and sixteen?' Monokuma laughed. Not a sweet, funny laugh, but a cruel, evil laugh. 'Puhuhuhu! You don't even realise it! You're not that young anymore! It's been three years! All of you who say you're fifteen, you're actually eighteen, and all you sixteen year olds are nineteen!' 'This... this can't be possible! How could three years of our lives suddenly go pop!?' Shutain exclaimed. 'Well... to put it simply, it's all so you can have a fresh start and nobody knows what the others are actually like and who were actually friends before! Your class is made up of random people from other groups, so who knows who actually knows each other? All I know is that two pairs of people were in the same classes, so you'll have to figure that out! Also, the Blackened who gets to leave gets their memories back!'

Second...' He rubbed his hands together. 'There are two... traitors. In this very group, two traitors stand. One is part of a group that kept you here, and worked with the people for this game, and the other is part of a rogue group who has gone to murdering for their selfish deeds, and is a terrorist in the outside world, so it would seem. And...' Monokuma stopped. 'Both of them have their memories.' He laughed that maniacal and cruel laugh once more. 'Good luck! Kerumo... You're coming with me.' As soon as he said that, both sank down into an unknown location, leaving the students confused of their whereabouts. Two traitors... A killing game... Trapped in a school... This couldn't be real. Mojiretsu thought to himself. It had to be a joke. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be-- Boruto's commanding voice pierced the empty silence and vivid thoughts of his mind.

'So. Where do we go from here?'


	5. Late night room service

'I think it'd be best if we go to our rooms, and check out where we'll be staying if we choose to live here forever or we end up dying. You know, that's one out of two outcomes, in which most of us are probably going to die. But... there is always the fact we could end up finding love and creating a whole civillisation from inside these walls. It is a possibility, you know.' Sugi blurted out. 'I think just going to our rooms would be the best idea for now. If there's clocks in there, we could check the times and set things accordingly like my watch. I think it's broken though, as it says the time is nine pm...' Firu stated. At that moment, he flinched as Monokuma sprung out from nowhere, scaring him and almost causing him to fall over. 'Nope! Your watch ain't broken! it's nine pm, meaning you've got an hour before it's night time! You know what that means, don't you? It means that at ten pm, some areas will be closed off, and it is encouraged that you stay in your rooms with your doors locked! After all, if you go out of your room at night and you run into a killer, then it sucks to be you!' He then disappeared, as if he was never there at all. 'So. I think it's be best if we see our rooms and get a good night's sleep, or maybe chat if we want to. I think we're allowed to go into each other's rooms though.' Firu led the group towards the corridor in which all sixteen rooms resided, being eight on each side, one side for boys, one side for girls. Mojiretsu looked around for his, trying to remember whose rooms he was next to and opposite, finding a small 8-bit image of himself, accompanied with his name on one of the doors, then looked at who was next to it. Standing with his back to his door, he noticed Tana was opposite him, Susoage was on his left, and Firu was on his right. He turned around, facing the door, then opened the unlocked door, which probably locked from the inside.

He closed and locked the door behind him, firstly taking note of the two items he had on top of a desk with a chair, at one corner of the room. He walked up to it, picking up the first item, being a dark blue pen with black inking, a small silver lever and a button in black. He pulled the small silver lever, and to no surprise, the pen's cartridge popped out so you could write. He pulled it back up, retracting the cartridge, then pressed the black button, to which something he was not expecting popped out the other end of the pen. A small blade had appeared, quite sharp yet confusing of why someone would have that on a pen. He pressed the button once more, and tried to figure out how to get it down, so held it and pulled the pen lever, which forced the cartridge out and the blade in, then flipped the lever once more and returned the pen to normal. He cautiously put it down on the desk, then looked at the other item. It seemed to be a model that someone had made, of a person with large angel-like wings being held down with vines and plants, trying to free themselves and fly away. It was quite complex, quite heavy and sharp in some places as well. 'You could probably kill someone if you hit them over the head with this... or stabbed someone with the pen.' He paused. 'Are every one of our missing items a potential murder weapon?' He walked away from the desk, and towards the opposite corner of the room, where his double bed lay at a corner, with white-grey sheets and a large duvet. He sat down, feeling its warm and comfortable sheets, then rested his head on the soft pillow, breathing in the clean air and freshly-washed smell. If he were to stay here for the rest of his life, at least the beds and rooms were comfortable and pleasing. He sat up once more, pondering to himself. 'Wait a minute... When I enrolled here, I distinctly remember that the headmaster's name wasn't Monokuma. I would have remembered it even more if he had gone by just one name. It was...' He had just realised something. 'His name was Burai Kelman... Wasn't it...?' He gasped. 'What happened to the actual headmaster?' He stood up, confused, then pounded his fist on the bedside table. 'What's going on?!'

As always as it was with his sudden appearances and disappearances, Monokuma jumped up once again in front of Mojiretsu's face, causing him to stumble backwards onto his bed and then bounced as he tried to regain his balance. The bear grinned its plastered smile as always, then laughed its maniacal laugh. 'I Succeeded him!' He paused. 'Of sorts... since he's not here any more so to speak...' 'What do you mean not here any more?' 'Well... He's missing! Escaped from his Sanctuary and probably torn up by one of my maniacal machines and diabolical schemes!' Mojiretsu gasped, then started hyperventilating a little, more in slower than faster breaths. 'Puhuhu! You're scared again! Just as expected from a normal, boring student who's only talent isn't actually a talent! Oops! Gotta run! Looks like someone's approaching!' He disappeared once more from whence he came, before shortly after just like he had said, someone approached, with three quick sharp knocks on the door, then a muffled male voice was heard on the other side of the door. 'Hey! Is this Mojiretsu?' He then heard the same voice, but a little quieter. 'Of course it's his room. It's his nameplate, his little icon thing, everything. Just man up and have a chat with someone for God's sake.' He heard the door knock three times once more. 'Umm... Hey Mojiretsu, it's Firu, you know, Firuduwasu Kamaru the Rugby Star and all that. You're in here, right? I heard you talking to yourself a little and I wanted to check on you if you were feeling nervous or something like that. If you wanna chat, we can, or if you don't... I'll just head back into my room. No one else is out, and I think they're sleeping or just checking out their rooms after the predicament of what we've just gone through today, from our memories to the game and the apparent traitors, we need to be able to trust someone... and at this point, you're one of the people I genuinely trust the most just from our first interaction.' After thinking about it, Mojiretsu cautiously went up to the door, unlocked it, and opened it to find Firu standing there.

'Oh. I didn't actually think you'd open the door for someone like me... Is it okay if I come in?' Mojiretsu nodded, before letting the Rugby star in, as he locked the door once more, and Firu sat on a sofa-like chair that was near the bed, as Mojiretsu sat on the bed himself. 'To be honest, I'm feeling a little nervous myself after what's going on, but sometimes I've had to help coach younger people before and I've had to learn to lead in the past, to stand on my own two feet and stand my ground for what I think is right. I just really wanted someone to talk to in these times, as I don't know what's going on with anyone and who I might end up being friends with in the future. After all, this is supposedly a killing game, and people are going to snap after they end up wanting to leave or some other motivation. It could be anyone who could end up being a victim or killer in this scenario, and I'm scared for it. There are so many different types of personalities that could have so many layers to them that makes it impossible to figure out and realise who could be potentially be one of the so said Blackened, or one of the Blackened's victims.' Firu took a break, then sighed. 'What I'm saying is I'm feeling so many mixed emotions at once and I'm scared, I'm nervous, I'm confused, and so much more, and I have no clue why I'm feeling how I'm feeling. Forcing a fight or flight response from a bunch of teens or new adults? It's crazy. Utterly crazy.' He put his hand on his forehead, before slumping down slightly, and rubbing his right eye. 'I get it. We're both new here Firu. But... I think it's really hard for you in particular considering you work with a team and you need someone to play with to be part of a rugby team, but I'm not sure if anything like that would be possible with our amount of people and the variety of places we have to offer at the moment.' 

The Rugby Star nodded, then looked up and removed his hand from his face. 'Wait, didn't Monokuma and Kerumo say something about the facilities? I found a variety of swimsuits and swim trunks in my wardrobe, small and large, with a wetsuit plus a swim t-shirt and swim shorts, though I think everyone got the same variety, but I think the girls got swimsuits, tankinis and bikinis, whereas we got the swim trunks and speedos. We all get the wetsuits, swim t-shirts and swim shorts though. Maybe tomorrow we could all go down to the pool and spa-thing and see what we can do? I bet there's at least equipment, so we could play volleyball, water polo, other sports... or we could just splash around and get to know each other. Or... some people could go to the spa or sauna or whatever it is. Apparently, Hope's peak had a bath house and sauna as well before it closed down because of the tragedy, and what happened in it. It's basically a known fact for quite a lot of Ultimates to know what that is.' 'Umm... What happened? I just got in here by luck, so... I wouldn't really count myself as an Ultimate.' He nodded, then sat up fully on the sofa-chair he was sitting on.

'Okay. I'll tell. Over the years the tragedy happened, which must have started around six or seven years ago now, a lot of things happened, and us Ultimates were highly protected because of what Junko Enoshima did to a load.' 'Junko... Enoshima... Why do I feel like I've heard that name before...?' 'Her name was plastered all over the news when she died about a year after the tragedy began, as she was the person who started it all. She was known as the Ultimate Despair, formerly the Ultimate Fashionista, and created this whole society and group called the Ultimate Despairs, named after her, which branched off into many smaller groups helping the progress of the tragedy commence, such as the Remnants of Despair and the Warriors of Hope, just to name a few. When the tragedy first happened, a group of high school Ultimates who had survived were kept inside the school by their headmaster and a few teachers, just to keep them safe, with plenty of food and air to be able to live in peace and co-exist while they were kept safe. Unfortunately, their memories were wiped, and they believed they were trapped, but it was actually the work of the Ultimate Despair and her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. Mukuro posed as Junko as her sister controlled what was happening, and forced the students so far into a state of Despair, that some started to snap because they wanted to leave. In the end, only six students managed to survive, being Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, Toko Fukawa, Byakuya Togami, Aoi Asahina and Yasuhiro Hagakure. Later on, they joined a group which is now known as the Future Foundation, and reformed the fifteen Remnants of Despair, though their names and Ultimates are Unknown outside of the Foundation for secrecy reasons, or whether they're even still alive. I hope you get that it was such a big thing, and for all of us to be so young during the time it happened, it's horrifying to think of.' He sighed. 'Not all of us will have had an Ultimate talent at that point either, so the research of Ultimates was still going on as the tragedy was dying down and teams were starting to build up. You know, I only officially got my Ultimate talent a few years ago, as I rose up the ranks and all, considering the tragedy put a lot of teams out of business in a sense.'

_*Ding Dong Ding Dong*_

At that moment, Monokuma appeared on the monitor in his room, which had flicked on.

 _'Ehem. It is now ten pm. And_ _it is officially Night Time! Some areas will be closed off, so if you find a door locked, it's closed off! At this time, it's encoraged that you go back to your rooms and get some sleep! Remember to lock your rooms as well, just in case you ket killed in your sleep! And we don't want that, do we? Good night, Sleep tight, Don't let the bed bugs bite!'_

The monitor turned off once more, and Firu stood up from his chair. 'I guess I should be going. It's night time, and I really should get to sleep.' He turned towards the door, but just as he was going to open the door to leave, Mojiretsu stopped him. 'Before you go, can you look at the two items on my desk? Are either of them yours or do you have any idea whose they could be?' Firu walked towards the desk, looking at the items then picking up the pen. 'Hey... I've seen one of those before. One of my friends had one, but it technically belonged to his older sister who was about four years older than he was. Hers was decorated in red, but with black ink, so probably this one's decorated blue, but also has black ink. I guess you found out the blade, huh? It was quite a shock when I saw one of those for the first time too. As for the model or statue thing, I think it's just something that someone's really proud of, as it might not be something to do with their talent and they want to se what other skills they've got. I don't remember seeing any type of artist here though, so that'd be hard to narrow down though. I do have a hunch of who the statue might belong to, but not the pen. Neither of these items are mine though.' 'Wait, you have a hunch of who the statue could belong to? Who is it? I could call them over tomorrow and give it back just in case it is theirs.' 'Okay... So I looked at the handbooks, and thought of what people like and dislike. One person in particular stood out, looking at this. Just think about it. Someone could secretly also have an artist or Design technology sort of skill besides their talent they're known for, plus look at the figure. The person looks quite feminine, plus they have wings. If you look closer, you can see small birds dotted on the sculpture, either on the person or just generally, and you can see many plants, shrubs, trees, saplings, vines and berries holding the person down, like they're trying to escape. As I said, One person stood out in particular. A female in the group who likes birds of prey, dislikes poisonous plants, and their Ultimate Talent is Unknown, as she says she's not comfortable saying it. Maybe because of her leader-like and focussed outer self, maybe she doesn't want anyone to assume that someone like her could have a talent that is maybe seen as too girly or arty?'

'Inatsu? That does make sense, actually. I'll ask her tomorrow about it, thank you. After we get that back to her if it's hers, we can focus on the pen and the items in your room. Maybe we can recruit some other people to help? The people who I think would probably help the most to me so far as friends I think could be Kosako, Susoage, Tana, Shimonzu, Mashu and maybe Reta as well. The twins would probably go off on their own or make new friend groups, Sugi and Tetori made pretty good friends early on and I think they'd work together pretty well, then with Naruhodo, Shutain and Inatsu I don't know what their feelings are towards it. Kosako wanted to make friends, Shimonzu was quite inclined to help, Boruto I don't know either, Mashu was quite hyped to find all her missing things, so I think she'd be happy to help find everyone else's, Reta needs a little company to help him not feel nervous so I think doing this would help him a lot, Susoage seemed quite friendly and wanted to work with people, then with Tana I think she'll open up more as this goes on further. She was actually quite nice to talk to if you know the topics.' Firu nodded. 'I've made quite a few friends, like Shimonzu, Boruto, Naruhodo, Tana, Susoage, Kosako, Inatsu a little, and Sugi, so I think that would help quite a bit as well. Anyway, I best be going if I want to wake up okay. I guess I'll see you. By the way, There's a set of keys on your bedside table. We all have a pocket or bag, or something like that in our rooms, so I'd recommend you keep the set on you because that's how you lock your room from the outside, just saying.' He gave a little wave, then walked out, and back to his own room, hearing another click as Firu closed his own door.

Mojiretsu went over to the wardrobe next, opening one of the draws and finding the pyjamas he would nomally wear at home. 'Huh. They really went all out.' He slipped into them, and turned his bedside lamp on, finally turning the main light off, slipping into bed and turning his bedside light off, falling into a dreamy and restful slumber for the rest of the night.

Maybe things would be better tomorrow.


	6. Speakable breakfast

*Ding Dong Ding Dong*

Once more, the monitors all around the school flickered on with Monokuma's Image, as his voice blared and echoed everywhere, throughout the rooms and facilities.

_'Ehem! It is now seven am, rise and shine! Time for another be-yew-tiful day!'_

The monitor flicked off once more leaving Mojiretsu to wake, roll out of bed, and get changed once more. 'Okay... I guess I should either get or make breakfast in the dining hall.' He picked up the keys on the side of his bed and his small E-Handbook, and slipped them into his inside pocket. 'I shouldn't really forget these.' he said as he unlocked the door and brushed his hair back with his hand, then turned back and locked the door, before putting his keys back into his pocket and turning to face the direction of the dining hall, already seeing three more people already making their way there, being Shutain and Yusaburo, who were walking in the direction, and Tna, who was also locking up. 'I guess we all had the same idea to go there, huh?' The Animal Keeper shook her head. 'Actually, a few other people made plans to go elsewhere, but other than them, I think we all want breakfast.' Mojiretsu and Tana walked up together, entering the dining all just behind Shutain and Yusaburo, who he had seen walking as Tana and himself had just locked up. There were seven of them in there already, including themselves plus the Model and Lawyer, with Firu, Kosako and Sugi all in there as well. 'Hey, you made it.' Firu spoke, as he waved at the four. 'Apparently some people also had other plans, who was that?' 'Oh, Shimonzu, Boruto, Mashu, Susoage and Inatsu all went down to the gym, but I don't know whether they're training or not, how they're training and who they're doing it with. Maybe as a five all together or maybe as a two and a three, or something like that.' Firu replied once more. 'We'll talk to her once she gets back, okay?'

Mojiretsu nodded, as other people started filing in, being Musoko, Tetori, Naruhodo, and Reta being the final four, each sitting in different seats. There was a large table in the middle of the dining hall, with sixteen seats to accompany all of them, being eight on each side, like the rooms. The five seats at the bottom were left empty to accumulate the five who were missing, and the rest were filled up. On the left from top to bottom sat Shutain, Sugi, Tetori, Tana, Mojiretiru, Firu, then on the right from top to bottom sat Musoko, Yusaburo, Naruhodo, Reta then Kosako, all sat in different ways and chatting with each other about various topics, one that could clearly be heard was Chidjireta's, but it didn't sound... normal? The chatter died down a little, as most of the group wanted to listen to his musings as he seemingly talked to himself, as no-one could understand.

'Watashi wa ko no subete ni tsuite totemo kinchō shite imasu, Kono jiten de ōku no gengo de hanasu koto ni naru kamo shiremasen. Dare mo watashinokoto o rikaidekinai shi, dare mo ki ni shinai node wanai ka to kowai' The group felt confused, but then, Kosako put a hand on his shoulder and spoke. Not in English, but in the language he had just spoken. 'Shinpaishinaide, watashi wa anata o rikai shite imasu. Daijōbuda yo.' His eyes brightened as he looked at her. 'Matte, nihongo ga hanasemasu ka?' She nodded. 'Idō shimashita. Watashiniha sore o hanasu koto ga dekiru kazoku ga imasu, sarani, urutimeito tarento purotekuto puroguramu no tame ni koko ni hikkoshimashita.' His brows furrowed a little in confusion. 'Urutimeito tarento purotekuto puroguramu?' Kosako sighed. 'Karera wa kyūkyoku no sainō o motsu hitobito ga gurūpu ya gakkō ni hairu no o tasukemasu, nen'notame, zetsubō no dai 2 nami ga kite,-betsu no higeki ni oikoma remashita.' He smiled a little at her comment. 'Sorry to break the conversation' Yusaburo interrupted, 'But... What language was that? And what were you talking about?' Kosako turned to the linguist, and reassured him. 'I'll take the question, don't worry.' She then turned back to the Lawyer. 'He was feeling a little nervous, that's all, and he said he has a little habit of speaking a different language when he gets nervous in situations like these. After all, all of us were or still are a little nervous or scared by what's going on. As for me, I have family who speak Japanese, and I said that I didn't really move here that long ago, though it would be a few years now as our memories were apparently taken away. I moved here when I was around thirteen or fourteen.' 'Arigatō.' Reta spoke again. 'Anata ga watashi o anshin sa seru koto ga dekite, watashi wa zutto kimochigaī.' Kosako nodded. 'Mondainai' She spoke once again in Japanese. 'Ochikonde iru baai wa oshirase kudasai. Otetsudai sa sete itadakimasu.' He nodded, then gave her a hug. 'Thank... Thank you so much Kosako. I really, really appreciate it, I really do.' He let go, wiping a happy tear from his face. 'Just remember what I said, Reta. Otetsudai sa sete itadakimasu. Don'na toki mo.'

(Chidjireta: ‘I’m so nervous about all of this, I might end up talking in so many languages at this point. No one will be able to understand me, and I’m scared no one is going to care.’ Kosako: ‘Don’t worry. I understand you. Everything is going to be okay.’ Chidjireta: ‘Wait, you can speak Japanese?(or English if you were playing the Japanese version if this was actually a game) Kosako: ‘I’ve moved around. I have family who speak it, Plus I moved here originally because of the Ultimate Talent Protection Programme.’ Chidjireta : ‘Ultimate Talent Protection Programme?’ Kosako: ‘they help people with ultimate talents to get into a group or into schools just in case a second wave of despair comes and we are forced into another tragedy.’ Chidjireta: ‘I feel a lot better that you’re here to reassure me.’ Kosako: ‘no problem let me know if you’re feeling down I’d be happy to help. Happy to help anytime.’)

After she had spoken, the five people originally at the gym walked into the hall with bags and chatting. 'Hey, Firu.' Inatsu said, sitting down next to him, as Mashu sat down next to her at the end, then the three boys sat down on the other side in the order of Susoage, Boruto and Shimonzu opposite Mashu at the bottom end. 'Yeah, I checked it out, and there's a storage cupboard with all the stuff in, as well as more cupboards for other places and things. I found the stuff in my wardrobe as well, are you sure it's a good idea? You know, someone could drown another out there.' Firu shook his head. 'There'd be witnesses and it'd be too blatantly obvious. Just think about it.' She nodded. 'Okay. Didn't you say you and Mojiretsu wanted to talk to me about something?' 'We'll tell you after we eat breakfast, if that's alright with you.' She nodded again, before gasping a little as Kerumo popped up from under the table. 'Agh! Oh... It's just You.' 'Did someone say breakfast? Well today's your lucky day! ... Well every day is your lucky day because food will always be here, always replenished and ready made to suit your needs! And... If you want to make things then you can! The kitchen is always available and always open, even at night! It's just through that red door there.' Kerumo gestured to the door to the back. 'Everything you need will appear! Huzzah!' As she said that, The lights turned off, turning the room pitch black, only left with voices without knowing who was speaking. 'I'm scared! What's going on!' 'Everything will be fine. Don't worry!' A thud was then heard after the male who had spoken. 'Ow! Who the hell pushed me, you're an asshole!' 'Guys, stay in your seats, and stay calm.' 'Be careful-- Ow! Who just elbowed me?!' 'Sorry... That was me, you alright?' The lights flickered on to find Kosako holding onto Susoage, rubbing his arm, Tetori had fallen over, legs kicking as her chair had tipped back, and Sugi was helping her up, most were still sat down and some were stood up. Tetori looked around, brushing off her dress with a scowl. 'Whoever tipped me over, I'll never forgive you.' Her expression then changed. 'Just kidding! I wouldn't take that much revenge over some petty asshole trying to make fun of me or some crappy practical joke.' She flicked one of her bunches back, propped her chair up once more, then looked at the table, which Kerumo had just pulled a white sheet from. 'Tah-Dah! Breakfast is served!' The group looked on in awe, as plates, cutlery, and a large amount of food had just appeared before their eyes, which must have been put in place during the sudden blackout.

'Woah! Look at all the food!' Mashu looked on, drooling a little as she took a bite out of a croissant with butter. Not the kind of butter you would just nonchalantly buy at the supermarket, but the proper, expensive butter that melts in your mouth, makes everything taste like heaven and gives you childhood memories like never before. 'This is sooooooo good...!' She mumbled out, still with her mouth full. Once she had finished her first pastry, the group began to dig in to the variety of pastries, fruits, cereals, meats and more that the Academy's breakfast had to offer. 'You know... If I got to eat stuff like this every day, I wouldn't actually want to leave.' Mojiretsu mumbled, half-way through a hash brown. Well, almost everyone was digging in. Susoage and Inatsu stood there, cautious and looking at one another, the food, Kerumo, and then back to each other. 'How do we know you haven't poisoned the food?' Inatsu asked, causing the other fifteen to look at her while eating, some stopping when she said that. 'Yeah. Inatsu might be onto something. After all, this is supposed to be an organised killing game between us all. Who says you're not just going to kill us all of now and get it over with, huh?' The group looked at the mechanical cat with various emotions over the group. Kerumo looked around, before sighing, and speaking aloud. 'You know I can't do that. If you look at the rules, Rule Number Twelve clearly states that neither me nor Monokuma can interfere with the murdering in the game. Sure, we can leave things out on files if it would immediately show who the Blackened is, so you guys can figure things out, or we can induce motives to everyone, but we cannot commit murder ourselves, as that would be breaking the rules. Even Monokuma and I have to abide by the rules we have set, and that includes all of them. There is a specific rule, that we forgot to mention, though. When it says that all trials are Mandatory unless you are dead, there is another reason why you can be excused from a trial. If someone else is having an execution and you are officially part of or near an execution while not being executed yourself, there is the rare occasion you may get hurt or possibly even be close to death, and will need medical attention so you cannot be seen for a while. This counts in trials as well. Just wanted to bring that up. Bye! Enjoy your breakfast! And no, I haven't poisoned anything.'

Kerumo popped down to somewhere unknown, as usual, before everyone went back to their eating. 'If she says so... I guess.' Inatsu picked up a piece of bacon, and some syrup. 'Really? Bacon and maple syrup?' 'You don't? Seriously Susoage. You need to try it.' She offered him a little. 'Does it have any milk in? Sorry, I have to check everything. I'm lactose intolerant. If it's got milk in, you'll see me throwing up a load in about four to five hours' time.' 'I've checked. Don't worry. Have a go.' He cautiously took the bacon and syrup, shoved it into his mouth, and chewed, trying to distinguish the clearer taste before smiling a little. 'mmm...It's actually alright. I learned one new thing today. Bacon and syrup is a nice combo.' The group continued to eat, before getting full and leaving leftovers. 'Should I put these in the fridge in case anyone wants them later?' Sugi offered. At that moment, Kerumo popped up once more, and took all the leftovers from the table and out of Sugi's hands, much to the psychologist's surprise. Don't worry, I'll sort it out!' The cat waddled to the kitchen, leftovers in hand, as Boruto opened the door for her to get through. 'Thanks! You can let it go now, I can pop out without the door.' He let go, watching her go through. The group started to go off, when Firu called. 'Alright! In one hour, how about we all head down to the gym, pool and sauna and have a little fun while we're all still here? We're all free, so it could work! I hope to see you then!' The group nodded, going off until only Inatsu, Firu and Mojiretsu were left in the dining hall.

'So, you two said you found one of my two items. If you could show me, that would be good.' 'Alright. Mojiretsu, you lead the way.' The Lucky Student nodded, before leading the way to his room, unlocking the door, and inviting the two inside. He motioned towards the desk with both the pen and statue on, then noticed Inatsu walking to the statue in particular. 'I... Thanks. Thank you very much for finding this.' She picked up the sculpture-statue, feeling it in various places. 'I... Know you'll have a lot of questions, and I'll answer a few. Firstly, My Ultimate talent is not arty nor design technology in any way. It does not represent any of that, and I just admire things I make in the little free time I manage to get. Second, you may be wondering what this means, what it is, what it represents, all of that. Well, I used to do art back in school, and I made this in it. When I was younger, I had a friend. She was nice to me, yet would comment on various things, like my hair, or my clothing, or the fact I looked tomboyish in a way. After all of that, I still considered her a friend. Her name was Mochi, and one day, I said enough was enough, and walked away. I found a better group of friends, and pursued what I wanted to do in life. After being recognised as an Ultimate, she tried to crawl back to me, yet I always stood firm, kept my head up, and looked forward, instead of dwelling on the past about a person who I thought was a friend, yet was actually rather harmful. In a way, you could say this statue represents how some people are held down by toxic thoughts, or toxic people who want to keep them from achieving, or flying away, as I put on here actually. I like stories of people with wings, flying away to a better future and looking forward and ahead, and the plants sort of represent being rooted in a way, to a certain person or thought, so much it might become intrusive. The plants also make me think of the toxic friend I once had considering she was constantly going on about how she was going to be with nature in her life, how she'd study it, how she'd live in it, all of that. It's about someone being able to break free from and be able to fly away from their troubles. Oh, how I wish I could just break free from and fly away from all of this. How I wish all of us could. I heard she got better though. Maybe learning to stand on her own two feet instead of leaning on others gave her a sense of actual responsibility. Anyway... Thank you. I'll go back to my room. I guess I'll see you soon.'

She turned around with the statue and gave a short two-finger salute, then Firu turned and left shortly after. 'I'll see you soon then!' 'You too.'

After Firu had left, Mojiretsu wondered. Maybe some swimming and exercise might take his mind away from it all.


	7. A dip and a splash

Once the two had left his room, he went up to his wardrobe, then searched for the swimming gear that Firu had told him about. He opened it up, finding a variety of swimming trunks, swimming shorts, swimming tanks and swim t-shirts in a wide collection of styles and colours, from black, to red, to pink, to yellow, with flowers, spots, stripes, plain, etcetera inside of one of the draws, then proceeded to fetch out a mid-grey pair of swimming trunks, and placing them inside the bag that the school had left in his room, being a mid-grey and silver track bag which you could sling around your shoulder. He noticed them before, earlier in the day, when the group of Shimonzu, Boruto, Inatsu, Mashu and Susoage came in to the dining hall from the gym earlier that day, each with a different coloured bag. Both Boruto's and Susoage's were red, though Susoage's was a darker red, and Boruto's was a lighter shade, Mashu had a light blue bag, and Inatsu's bag was a teal-turquoise colour as well, so looking at that, he assumed each of them had a bag, but in a different colour, mostly suiting a colour they were wearing. 'There must be a few blues, reds and greens around.' He spoke to himself, as he loaded an extra t-shirt, hoodie, and pair of trousers in the bag as well. There seemed to be changing rooms there, as he had overheard some of the gym group discussing how they had different apparel that they had taken with them, which the Lucky Student had also found in the wardrobe he had dug through before. He once again made sure to check he had his keys and handbook, which he still had, before unlocking the door, stepping outside, and locking the door once more.

To his surprise, no-one was out when he locked up, meaning they were either still in their rooms or had already left and were there before. He walked down the corridor, and towards the stairs, to which he climbed down and was greeted by a familiar face, being Inatsu, already changed, with a red one-piece swimsuit on underneath her unzipped teal hoodie, with her teal track bag over her left shoulder. She was barefoot, and presumably heading down to the pool, which was to the right. The bottom floor was separated into three paths, the right going to the pool, bath house and sauna, the middle heading to the male and female changing rooms, and the left going to the gym. 'I just got changed, and I'm heading up to the pool. there's a couple loungers and stuff down there, one for each of us. I think they're actually labelled, or so Shimonzu says. I'm going to go put my things down on my lounger, if that's alright. Quite a few people are already here, so I guess I'll see you.' She nodded and walked to the right, over to the pool, as Mojiretsu stepped into the male changing rooms, with eight cubicles and a set of showers. He looked, as he saw two were occupied, then stepped into cubicle number five as it was labelled, and proceeded to change into his swim trunks and put his clothing into his grey bag. He stepped out after finishing, also seeing Reta stepping out of another, orange bag in hand, and a pair of grey and orange swim trunks on his body. 'I... was considering putting a t-shirt on, but I didn't in the end, you know. I feel more comfortable that way, if that's fine.' He still seemed nervous, as Mojiretsu put a hand on his shoulder. 'It's fine. Everyone's wearing swim gear, and we're all going to the pool and gym. You can feel comfortable.' The nervous linguist smiled a little, before heading out with Mojiretsu, then hearing a call from Yusaburo who was still in the cubicle left occupied. 'I'll be out in a minute guys, I'll see you too.'

The two left and headed towards the pool, then looked around. 'I guess we find our loungers and wait for everyone else.' Reta nodded, before finding his own, as Mojirestu looked for his, ending up on the left side in between Tana and Shutain, as the order went in a boy-girl format. Both had arrived, and were sitting on their loungers, doing different things. Tana was hiding under a towel, Dark green bag beside her, and Shutain was reading a book he had never seen before that came out of a purple bag. Her hair was now in a tight plait, instead of its usual down plus bun, and she wore a black bikini with slight neon purple splashes and waves on its design as well. Her legs were crossed as she sat, or rather half-lay down, and she was focussed more on her reading than anything else. She stopped momentarily, looking towards Mojiretsu's direction, then put it down, parting the pages.

'I found it in the library, I took a trip up there straight after breakfast alone, you know. It's the next in a series I've been reading, and it's the third out of seven books total, called Pearly Clouds. It's a fantasy-style setting, and mostly follows two people, named Ruth and Kate, fearless warriors and two friends, pure of heart. The series starts by a wicked king called Jacque Givre, angering the land of the fae, by crossing over to their world and causing chaos in the form of war, slaughter and death. Then, the King finds an unawakened Ice power in the fae realm, and steals it for himself, granting him immortality and the abilities of a powerful fae mage plus his everlasting powers of ice, then curses both realms to rid them of everything and cause chaos after his two thousand-year slumber. It fast-forwards to the present day, where two human seventeen-year olds are chosen to defend both realms, and must balance their school life and fae life after the curse is unleashed. Every day something is taken from their world, and In the end, they must collect seven crystals to form the weapon to kill the king, and rid both realms of their curses, while the human world can never know about the curse at all. They've collected two so far, and it's such an interesting storyline, though it's a little gorey when the battles and trials happen. I recommend it, it's such a good read. Reminds me of another series I've read, about Greek Mythology in a way.'

Mojiretsu nodded, spotting that Tana had jumped out from her towel and had jumped into the pool, and more bags and people were filing in, either going in the pool, gym, sauna or bath house. 'Come on Moji! Water's good!' Tana splashed him a little, as Shutain recoiled with her book. Tana clambered out, her short hair dripping wet as she brushed it back and her grey goggles on her eyes. She too was wearing a one-piece swimsuit much like Inatsu wore, but hers was black in colour, with no design other than a white stripe down each side. 'Brought a pair of shorts as well, I wanna head down to the gym in a bit. Not bad, eh?' At that moment, she fell backwards back into the pool as Monokuma popped up out of nowhere as per usual, then bobbed back up and put her elbows on the side of the pool. 'Jeez! What the hell was that?! You... Bastard bear!' She looked angry, as she spat out a little bit of water. 'I literally fell in with my mouth open. Thanks soooo much for that.' Monokuma laughed. 'Serves you right for standing so close to the pool! Aaaaanyway... You gotta look at the rules!' 'Rules? Of course there's rules. Every pool has rules.' Shutain remarked. 'Well, here they are! I'll point them out to everyone, but seen as you three are here--' 'Four, actually.' Inatsu replied, swimming over and doing front crawl. 'Fine... Four are here, I'm gonna say it to you bastards first!' 'Hey!' 'I don't care Ansutana! Here they are!

Rule 1: No swimming at night.

Between the time of ten pm and seven am, no swimming can be done here. The same can't be said for corpses though...

Rule 2: However, The Changing rooms, Gym and Sauna are still open at night.

Rule 3: If you wish to use equipment, a storage room is available.

Rule 4: Loungers are designated for each person, so don't use anyone else's.'

'Okay... So those are the rules... Why did you make the comment about corpses though? Was it because of that show that made a fake season with all actors and stunt doubles and fake killings and stuff?' Inatsu asked, still in the pool next to Tana. 'Because I remember watching that. It looked surprisingly real.' 'THE HOPE'S PEAK KILLING GAME WAS A REAL EVENT DUMBASS!' Monokuma screeched, as Inatsu sighed. 'I know about that one, I meant the one they called the third killing game, then disguised it as the fifty third. It was the fake one to show people what could actually happen from a certain character's point of view and how people would have actually felt in that scenario, as the first killing game was broadcast, but wouldn't show every single person's feeling towards the game. I think they called it V3, or something like that. Did you get inspiration from the second murder case, in which it was mentioned that corpses didn't count as someone swimming at night? I'm just saying, wouldn't it have just been easier to kill the dude in his room by drowning him in the sink like the culprit had planned to do, taken off his handcuffs because there would have at least been keys for them in his lab, so taking away some evidence, then just thrown him in the pool and closed the window? It wouldn't have left hardly any evidence at all, and it could have been said that he drowned while swimming in the morning, when it was open? It would have sure caused a lot of havoc and split over any evidence at all, and when the murder actually happened. Sure, they could have found someone drowned him then thrown him into the pool, but so many people had alibis that made them suspicious that it would have been much harder to guess the culprit, and guess wrong in the end. I'm not saying I would commit a murder, because I wouldn't do that at all. Heavens no! Just mentioning that doing it quicker and disposing of things faster would make it harder to find evidence and would be harder to fit in alibis and make everyone seem a little suspicious. It would be much harder to make out the culprit that way.' She sighed again. 'Though, if you set a deliberate plan with fake evidence, maybe at a time where everyone has split up, no one has alibis for a long period of time, and the fake evidence or trap makes it harder to decide who the blackened or culprit really is. Things work very differently for different people, and some find things much easier to confuse than just murder outright.'

After the conversation had lengthened, Monokuma had become fed up and disappeared once more, and all sixteen loungers were now filled with towels, students, and bags of various colours. Tana and Inatsu had gotten out of the pool, put on a pair of shorts each, and headed over to the gym with Mashu and Kosako, Shutain was reading once more, and others had gone for a dip. Mojiretsu got up from his lounger, and headed into the bath house, looking for a more relaxing experience for himself, and that was where he once again met Firu. 'Hey Mojiretsu, I guess you showed up here too to relax. Maybe we could sit in the jacuzzi and chat? Kerumo popped up to me and told me there was one in here when I came in, so I'll take her word. She seems like the nice one out of the two, so I had no choice but to trust her considering her and Monokuma have got us all trapped here until someone decides to murder. I hope that doesn't happen anytime soon, if at all, considering how good this place actually is.' Mojiretsu nodded. 'I guess so...' The two walked over to one corner, finding a jacuzzi-like tub just like Kerumo had said. 'Told you she was the more trustworthy one.'

The two clambered in, sitting on opposite sides, then chatted. 'Hey, Mojiretsu?' Firu asked. 'Yeah...?' 'You know how I said Kerumo told me a load about here like the tubs and stuff? Well, one other thing she said was that Monokuma can't enter the bath house nor sauna, but she can somehow. There's a whole list of weird stuff, you know. From the robots to the life here... it's all a little... what's the word? That's right. Downright Crazy.' He sighed and slipped further into the water, as Mojiretsu spoke. 'You told me something yesterday. Something about a tragedy.' 'Yeah, what about it?' 'Well, I knew about the tragedy, but I didn't really know too much about it, like the high schools and the murders. One thing I thought of just now... Isn't it a little similar? Just think about it. A group of high school students are trapped inside a school that they were supposed to go to, their memories are wiped and then they're forced to kill each other to escape? Add the fact that Monokuma and Kerumo are probably going to give us motives to keep this game of theirs going, it feels a little... similar. Too similar if you ask me, but I don't know. I didn't watch either the Hope's peak killing game, nor the V3 one that Inatsu was talking about earlier.' Firu then sat back up fully. 'Hmm... Yeah, it does, doesn't it?'

'Doesn't what?' The two turned their head to see both Naruhodo and Yusaburo heading towards them. 'Mind if we get the other two sides?' Yusaburo asked, glasses now off and a pair of dark blue swimming trunks on. Firu nodded, before moving to the right, towards Mojiretsu, and let the other two males into the square-shaped tub. 'What were you guys talking about? I heard you saying this was similar to something else, but I didn't really catch anything else before that.' Naruhodo asked, a little confused. 'We thought about the Hope's Peak Killing Game.' Mojiretsu said, in both a casual yet slightly flat tone. 'Oh. I see... Yeah, that does make sense.' Naruhodo leaned back and stretched his arms out. 'So... Why don't we talk about something else instead of you know, the fact that we might all inevitably die and we've been put in a killing game where that might just happen?' Yusaburo nodded. 'I think that'd be great knowing our circumstances at the moment.' Mojiretsu nodded. 'So... what do we talk about? I know there's got to be something. Book preferences, movie preferences, favourite food, colour, anything! How about we just do a circle thing.' 'Where we think of a question then go round the circle for our favourite thing? Sure.' Yusaburo responded. 'So, Mojiretsu, you go first, then we go in order to the left, so Mojiretsu, me, Naruhodo then Yusaburo.' Firu gestured his dripping wet hand towards him. 'Umm... Favourite colour? Mine's Silver.' 'I like Gold.' 'I dunno... maybe some kind of Caramel brown?' 'Wow, specific. Anyway, mine's a navy blue. Firu? Your question?' Firu thought for a moment. 'Umm... Favourite sport, other than your Utimate if you have it for that. Mine's Football, or Soccer, or however you want to say it, other than rugby which is already my Ultimate.' 'I like... let's go with swimming because I can't say Archery.' 'Don't judge me, but I used to do shot put., and I found it quite fun.' 'I'd say basketball. Naruhodo, you're up next.' Naruhodo immediately thought of a question before saying. 'What's your favourite School subject? Mine's History.' 'Maths.' 'English probably...' 'Hmm... I always liked DT. Yusaburo?' Yusaburo thought, his dripping wet hand coming up to his chin. 'Any siblings? As you've seen, I've got a non-identical twin sister. I'm the older one by a day.' 'I've got a younger brother, and he's three years younger than me.' 'I haven't got any siblings, I'm an only child.' 'Firu, lucky. I think I said this to you before Mojiretsu, but I've got an older brother.'

The group of four then continued to laugh and share questions for a while, before Sugi stepped into the bath house with a yellow and white full-body swimsuit, a pair of black shorts on and some black slip-on sandals. 'Hey guys, we're on about wrapping it up soon and heading to the dining hall for lunch. After that, you can head back here if you want later, or you can go somewhere else like the gymnasium or library. Anyway, we're all getting changed and heading up, so just letting you know.' She smiled a little and ran out, to the call of Tetori. 'Come on! Let's go get changed girl!' Mojiretsu got up and shook his hands, splashing the three still in there. 'Sorry, I'm gonna go get my bag and get changed. I'll see you up at the dining hall.' He stepped out of the bath and relax area and into the pool area, finding his lounger, then picking up his bag and towel and heading to the male changing rooms. Once there, he got into a cubicle, cubicle three this time, then got changed and headed out, hair still a bit wet. Heading up the stairs with his bag over his shoulder, he noticed Shutain, putting the top of her hair back into a bun, and gave her a thumbs up as he walked towards the dining hall. When he stepped in, he saw quite a few people already there, being Tana, Reta, Musoko, Tetori, Sugi, Boruto, Shimonzu, Susoage and Kosako, before the rest of the group filed in, and Kerumo popped up once more.

You all know what time it is! It's Lunch Time!


	8. Highlighted and motivated

Kerumo had once again served them food somehow with the help of many of the students, then told them that it would be their duty to make lunch as of now, and before they knew it, lunch was over and it had just hit two pm, as it said on the clock in the dining hall. Now, they had more free time before dinner, so Mojiretsu went back to his room, dropped his bag off, then went up to the library, as Shutain had said there was a wide variety of things there, so wanted to take a look, as well as seeing who would be down there. He opened the golden brown double doors and found five other people in there, being Reta, Tana, Susoage, Inatsu and Kosako, all doing different things. Reta was reading in a small corner, with a set of chairs and small sofa-like chairs as well, Tana was climbing a ladder to reach the top of a bookcase which was the same colour as the doors, filled to the brim with different coloured books, pulled out one, reading the name, climbing down, going to a page, then climbing back up, putting it back and searching again, Kosako was looking at the books scattered all over the wooden desks, inspecting each one, Susoage was looking around, then Inatsu had noticed a world map with different coloured pins in, and was squinting at it, occasionally looking back at Tana.

'This the one you want?' Tana said, breaking the silence, as she hopped down the ladder with an open book, handing it to Inatsu, who took it off her. 'Exactly. This is it.' The unknown Ultimate took it, and placed it beside a label that she and Kosako had found on one of the desks, which was devoid of scattered books, unlike the others. She wiped away a layer of dust with her sleeve, then brushed it onto her skirt quite frantically. She then moved over to a corner of the room, searching for another book, then another, then another. Every one, she placed at a certain page, as Tana and Kosako helped her. 'Hey, do you need us to find anything?' Inatsu turned around and looked at the three boys, then nodded. 'Susoage, there should be a green book on the bottom shelf near where you're standing called 'The guide to warming up'. It's non-fiction, so should be close to you, and should be under N for Nidai. Flip to page forty six and see if there's anything highlighted in Pink.' She looked over at the linguist. 'Chidjireta... Actually, I know that you're reading about a certain country, what country is it? I can't see from over here.' He flipped it backwards. 'Umm... It's about Egypt.' 'That's amazing. Would you mind turning to page one hundred and three for me? If any words are highlighted in orange, would you mind putting the book down on this desk for me, the page facing upwards? Finally, Mojiretsu?' 'Yeah?' He responded. 'There's a book in the fiction section called 'So Lingers The Ocean' under F for Fukawa, and yes I mean that Fukawa. If you turn to page two hundred and thirty four you should find something highlighted in yellow. If you could bring that to me, that would be amazing, thanks.'

Mojiretsu traversed the sections, first finding the fiction section, then finding the F section. He searched, gliding his finger over the books, gathering more dust on his finger, then wiping it on his hoodie. 'FA, FE, FF, FI, FL, FO, FR, FU... there we go...' He looked towards the middle, where K should be around, middle top, before finding the blue and white spine of the book and pulling it out, then finding page two hundred and thirty four just like Inatsu has said to do. He flipped, finding it, and Indeed he found something highlighted in yellow. Two words. 'Crystal' and 'Have'. He walked over, placing the final book next to Inatsu, the highlighted page up. Next, the six stood around the desk as Susoage took the eight books and Inatsu flipped the label. 'Susoage, put the pink highlighted first, green second, yellow third, red fourth, purple fifth, blue sixth, orange seventh and turquoise eighth. All of them should have two words highlighted, right?' 'Right.' 'Susoage, there's a pen and pad next to you, and I've already tested the pen, so it works. As with all text, the word above and earlier comes before it, so would you mind writing down the words highlighted on the pages in order, so first book, all the way to eighth, left to right?'

He placed his finger on each book, writing down each highlighted word with his right hand, before finally coming down to the sixteenth word. 'I... Should I read it?' Inatsu nodded. I think you should. It might have information for us to get us out of here, or at least something for us. After all, why would someone have left this label? If this whole place has been made for us, why keep it out here? There's only one way to find out. Susoage, read it out.' The group stood there in anticipation, and what they heard shocked them.

'It says... Five people kept by Crystal have gone missing. Academy Ultimate Students also presumed missing or dead.'

The room fell silent. Eyes glanced around the room, to the books, the note and each other. Bare minutes felt like an eternity.

'I... I can't believe it.' Kosako spluttered out. 'So that means... the three years we got taken away from us...' 'We could have been kidnapped and taken or something...' Susoage finished off her sentence. 'That's impossible. That's clearly not us. We're not missing or dead.' Tana retorted. 'Also... There's something about a Crystal?' Reta spoke next, pointing to the words highlighted in yellow. 'I've go no clue what it means, but five people going missing? Crystal? Academy Ultimate Students? After hope's peak shut down, Sanctuary academy opened... could we be those missing students?' Mojiretsu looked at the note once more. 'I... I think someone should keep the note and label, then we scatter the books so if Monokuma, Kerumo, or the apparent traitors come here, they can't find out what we've discovered and steal it. After all, if someone steals it, we can't find out more that could link to either what has happened to us, or how we can escape without murder.' 'How about either you, Kosako or Inatsu? I don't think I could layer it in my scarf with my handbook, keys and Teasel, because she might chew it, then I don't think either Susoage nor Reta have big enough pockets, if any.' Ansutana suggested. Kosako nodded. 'I think Inatsu should take it. She's the one who set it up, after all. Also, why did you choose this desk?' Inatsu spoke in a slightly quieter tone. 'It's the one desk that is obstructed by a book case on all sides the cameras are positioned, and there is only one monitor here on the other side of the room so it is much harder to hear us. Okay. I'll take it. I have zips on my hoodie pockets.' The Unknown Ultimate slid the note and label across the desk, placing them both into one of her pockets, then zipping it back up. 'Alright. put the books either back or scatter them around. There's quite a few on the floor and desks, and Chidjireta,' 'Yeah? I've read it before, so I'll just put it back. I know where it goes.' Inatsu nodded.

Soon, all eight books had been scattered and placed, before the monitor started to flicker, like it did for every morning and night announcement, and the six looked towards it in confusion. 'Wait, It's not night time... What's going on?' Kosako asked, much to the shrugs and looks of the other five.

*Ding Dong Ding Dong*

_'Ehem! Sorry to Interrupt everyone, but Monokuma is asking for you! Please head down to the gymnasium everyone! And yes, it is mandatory! See you there!'_

The group looked at one another, before Susoage headed through the doors fist, the other five following shortly after and headed towards the gymnasium, through the double doors, and seeing quite a few people already there, then filing in until all sixteen had made their way into the hall, each looking at each other as the doors closed behind them, and neither Kerumo nor Monokuma had shown up yet. Then... They popped up once more. 'Puhuhu! Did I scare ya?' He shouted, Kerumo by his side, as this time he forced Sugi to fall back in shock. 'Agh! Hey!' Shimonzu helped her up, as she put one hand on her hip. 'What did you call us for, anyway?' She asked, looking at the bear and cat. Monokuma looked up, then laughed that cruel laugh once more. 'I've mixed up all the right ingredients! The tension! The trapping! The premise of escape! The ideas! Why is no murder happening?! Ah!' The monochrome bear flicked out a collection of envelopes, eight in each hand, or rather paw, each with a name on. Like a frisbee, he threw one at each of the Ultimates, for them to either catch or drop it, then pick it back up. 'How about we give you all some motives?! Open 'em up and see what's inside!'

The group hesitantly flipped over their envelopes and opened them, peeking at what was inside. Mojiretsu cautiously opened his envelope, and what there was, was a single picture. A single picture, with a note on the back. A single picture... of his family. His... family. His... Fam... Ily... 'I...' He stuttered out. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a photo of the four of them. Him, his Mum, his Dad, and his younger brother Taero. They were sat on the sofa in front of the tv in their living room, and he looked a little younger, looking around fifteen, when he should have been going to Sanctuary soon, but he couldn't remember why he never remembered going to the academy in the few years prior. The haunting fact about the photo, is the fact he remembered it being taken before he came to the Academy. All of them were smiling and enjoying life as a family, his parents, him and his brother in casual clothes, and him wearing the hoodie he was still able to wear in the present date. His happy expression from looking at the picture suddenly changed, however, when he flipped to the back and read the note, which seemed to be hand written. What was written though, sent a blood-curdling feeling all across his entire body.

_Look at this picture. It's your family, Isn't it? You love them, don't you? Of course you should. Well, here it is. You have to kill to escape this place, or you can try and live in harmony in a communal lifestyle. However, there is a condition. You must cut all ties to the outside world. That includes your family, friends, colleagues etcetera, unless you want to escape and ever see them again. If not and you want to live along with anyone else with no death, then you must cut off all ties. It's one way or another. It's your choice._

Mojiretsu's face twisted into one of horror, then as he looked up and looked around, he noticed everyone else had that same horrified look on their faces, eyes wide in fear at what they saw on that picture and that note. He assumed that everyone had a similar picture and note to himself, possibly of family and friends, with the threat that they had to cut all possible ties. As more and more students opened their envelopes, took out their pictures and read the note behind, their faces changed, and looked up to see the reactions of others, then all slowly looked over to where Monokuma and Kerumo were stood, the evil grin still plastered on the bear's face, watching all the students look at him with horror, confusion and fear. 'Why... why would you do this... did we all get the same sort of thing? That's just cruel.' Reta stuttered out. 'Puhuhu!' The monochrome bear laughed. 'Of course you all got the same note! Obviously your pictures wouldn't be the same, but it's a threat! A motive! It's gotta be fair, hasn't it?' Monokuma laughed one more before grabbing Kerumo's arm and dragging her down into the abyss of where they actually came from.

The students stood in silence, before Tetori was the one to break it. 'Come on! Are we just gonna stand around and wallow in self pity? You need to man up and survive! You know what those two animatronic things said, right?' Tetori carried on, almost shouting at this point, with half tears coming out in determination. 'They said we either live or die. We kill or live in harmony. That's our damn choice, and I'm not killing for some petty motive.' Firu nodded. 'I agree with Tetori here. Who knows what the actual heck is going on outside? It could be far worse than what's in here for all we know, and I'd rather not kill someone here. Especially because we're all Ultimates, we're all around the same age, and all of that.' After he spoke, one voice in particular stood out, getting everyone's attention. It was Musoko's.

'But what if not everyone feels the same way you do?' Firu turned around to face the prosecutor. 'What do you mean?' the rugby star asked, directed at her. 'Not everyone has the same opinions, do they? If Monokuma was telling the truth that we all got similar pictures with the same note written, hand written, might I add, on the back of each picture, then that means we have to cut off ties to the outside world, Including family and friends, if you want to live here in harmony with no killings. However, some people might think just a little bit different from what you think, Firu. I bet there's at least one person out here willing to kill to see and be with their family. And, have you forgotten?' Musoko carried on. 'If you get out of here becoming the Blackened and don't get caught during the class trial, you can get all of your stolen memories of the last three years back as well, meaning you actually know things that we wouldn't have known before. Some seek it for knowledge, others for power, greed, family or another reason.' 'Musoko, stop it!' Sugi tried to shout towards the prosecutor, though to no avail. 'It's what you know. You have to know the people around you. At this point, you shouldn't even know who to trust. It's your choice. It's survival of the fittest, and with your attitude, rugby boy, I can't see you living very long at all.'

She prodded him lightly on his chest, then walked away with a slight flick of her hair, opened the gymnasium doors, and promptly left, letting the doors close behind her, leaving the rest of the students to wonder about her statement. Who could they really trust, and who would most likely betray them? The Linguist, Lucky student, Drummer, Lawyer, Model, Prosecutor, Archer, Engineer, Rugby Star, Psychologist, Ice Skater, Reporter, Animal Keeper, Free Runner, Racer or the Unknown Ultimate? All sixteen of them had thoughts, and Mojiretsu looked around at his new classmates, wondering as well. Then, an announcement went off.

*Ding dong ding dong*

_'It's dinnertime everyone! Head down to the dining hall if you wish to eat dinner! If not, then food will be in the kitchen if you wish to eat or make any!'_

Kerumo's voice blasted from the monitors, beckoning the group to the dining hall, yet some thought otherwise in a sense. Some could be overheard speaking to themselves or one another, saying they didn't want to go, and others said that they definitely wanted to eat as of the time. The group exited the gymnasium and went their ways.

To just say, most of them showed up for dinner, and tried to break the silence with idle chit chat and other means, and settled down to eat dinner for the night, with the few exceptions coming in later on, grabbing something, and retreating back to where they originally came from. The time period seemed to be a little awkward, to say the least, as clearly no-one wanted to talk about what they had seen on their photos, and their opinions. Mojiretsu wondered. Could Musoko have been right? Would anyone kill for a motivation? Surely not... Right? He thought once more. They'd all see each other at times, such as the mandatory times like breakfast, and when they were all called, but otherwise, they'd trust each other... Right? He swallowed another mouthful of food. Still silent, figuring out his own thoughts, someone looked over to him and tapped him. That person was Firuduwasu Kamaru. 'Hey, bud, you okay?' Mojiretsu nodded. 'Yeah... Just thinking.' The Rugby Star smiled a little. 'Me, Boruto, Shimonzu, Naruhodo and Reta have planned to have a get-together to discuss things after dinner in my room if you want to come. It'll fill up the time between after now and before night time if you want to talk about anything.' Mojiretsu looked from his food to Firu, then nodded. 'I think it would be a good thing to get my thoughts out. Thank you.' Mojiretsu ate his last mouthful of food before taking his plate and cutlery into the kitchen and placing it on the side, where Kerumo was humming a tune that he had heard before somewhere before while cleaning various pots and pans.

'You need any help there?' the Lucky Student asked, coming up to the animatronic cat. The cat looked over at him, and somehow smiled, despite looking devoid and robotic at the same time. 'No, it's fine. Just leave it there, and I'll get it sorted!' She turned to the sink, then back to him. 'I overheard you and Firu talking, by the way.' He shrugged. He bet that at least one of them had heard. 'It's either me or Monokuma that is able to hear you here, and It's my time. Don't tell Monokuma.' He looked at her. 'You should go. You may or may not learn something.' 'Huh?' 'Don't tell anyone.' She looked back at him with a serious face. 'Okay.' He left the kitchen, as the cat went back to jollily doing the dishes, like she had never spoken to him about anything at all. He stopped before leaving the dining hall afterwards, then noticed the four boys had left the hall. He wandered through the hallways, now lit dimly to imitate the fact it was nighttime, searching for the dorm corridor. He found Firu's room, directly next to his own, and knocked sharply three times, the same way he remembered the Rugby Star to have done. On the other side, he could hear various muffled male voices, then the unlocking 'click' of the door before him.

A set of Hazel eyes appeared through the crack, then fully opened up, revealing the face and body of Firuduwasu Kamaru, the Ultimate Rugby Star, the person he was hoping to see. 'Hey Mojiretsu! I'm so glad you came. I mean, we left just after you headed to the kitchen, it's been about fifteen minutes, so I was half expecting you not to come. Come in, the rest are already here.'

He stepped into the Rugby Star's room, finding the group of boys already there. Reta and Naruhodo were sat down on chairs, Firu and Shimonzu were now sat on the bed, and Boruto was stood up in the middle of the room, arms crossed. 'So, that's all of us, right? Firu, I guess we better get on with it. Maybe a talk, maybe a show, whatever, but I think everyone needs a talk and a catch-up right about now.' Boruto said, aiming the statement at everyone in the room. 'So. What we've all decided to agree to discuss is our motive pictures that those asshat animatronic animals gave to us. What he said meant that we got pictures of our family with the same note attached on the back, hand written. Obviously, Monokuma nor Kerumo can write due to their lack of fingers, even though they can hold things, plus they're robots. They may be advanced, but their lack of humane features gives them that disadvantage. Meaning, Someone is controlling the two. For our sake, let's just call them... I dunno.' Reta looked up as the Drummer was thinking. 'How about the Mastermind?Seen as that person controlling Monokuma and Kerumo also gave us those motives, encouraged us to kill and presumably trapped us all in here, they're the one behind it all. The one behind it all, is called a Mastermind, right? Think evil schemes, hurting other people. It's a name for it.'

The others looked at Reta when he spoke, before Naruhodo nodded. 'I guess that's a good name for this mysterious personality terrorising us all. Right. We need to get to the point here. None of us are falling for the Mastermind's trap. Even if they try to use our families and friends for their stupid motives, we won't cave in. Even if we're missing years of our lives because of some situation we can't understand, we will fight back. Against this so called Mastermind. Against Monokuma and Kerumo, and this whole system. I may not have my bow nor arrows now, but when I do, it'll be big trouble for whoever's behind all this.'

Most of the group nodded, but then Boruto raised a few questions. 'But what if someone does get killed? What if someone actually caves in to the Mastermind's trap? Or what if it's not a trap at all? Do we really have to cut ties? What will happen to our Goddamn families?' He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. 'I'm starting to sound like the Prosecutor now. Look. I don't want doubt, fear, any of that, but I'm just asking questions.' 'And,' Shimonzu said afterwards. 'If you look at the rules, you can't harm Monokuma or Kerumo. Judging by their terms, that means punishment, or rather execution. What are we supposed to do? We're doomed!' The Free Runner pressed both hands to his forehead, then ran his right hand through his hair nervously. 'I don't know.' Firu said, hand now on Shimonzu's shoulder. 'But we'll get through it. All sixteen of us.' The comment made him smile. 'Thank you. Firu.' Boruto glanced up for a second at the two, then towards the table where two objects were still there, then back to the two. 'Before I get onto something that we can look at in a minute, can I just say something?' The group nodded, and looked towards him. 'What if one of those two robot things comes up to one of us, and is able to convince us out of this talk? What if one of us in this very room dies? A victim, or a killer? Or even both? I'm definitely hoping neither, but we can never assume that no one in here wouldn't do it.' Mojiretsu looked around, then spoke.

'I'm definitely sure nobody in this room is going to die if we've just had that big talk about it. Boruto, What was the thing you were going to show?' 'Oh yeah...' Boruto replied, going up to Firu's desk. 'There's two objects still here. One of them looks like a... Wait, is that a Swiss Army knife? Who carries one of those?' 'Well it's not just a knife you know.' Reta replied. 'My uncle showed me his, and it's got all kinds of tools, like a screwdriver, a can opener, and even a belt clip. It's a multi purpose tool, though it's actually called a Swiss Army knife because after World War Two, people struggled to call it by its original name when it became more popular, being Offiziersmesser, meaning Officer's Knife in German.' 'So, it's yours then?' 'Nope. Not mine, and I have no clue whose it is or who would even own one.'Reta shook his head. 'Me neither.' Naruhodo replied. I know what I'm missing. If anyone has a bow or some arrows, they'll be mine. What's the other thing?' Boruto picked it up, uncoiling a long wire wrapped around it to reveal a small screenwith a circular pad underneath it. 'Huh, I used to have one of these.' He smiled a little, pressing a button on the bottom. 'Looks like it's still working.' 'What is it?' Mojiretsu asked, genuinely asking.

'It's an MP3, though it's one with a screen, and it's white. It looks like there's a charger and a set of earphones with it as well. Got a couple tracks on it, though not too many, looks about twenty five ish.' He flicked through the tracks. 'Hey, I love this song. Whoever's it is, they've got pretty good taste. Huge variety of styles, some instrumentals, they even listen to musicals and movie soundtracks.' 'That's pretty cool.' Firu replied, taking the player from the Drummer and flicking through while listening to a few of the tracks. 'Woah... I remember this! Oh jeez I played that game, it got really hard.' Various others in the room listened to the track, realising that all of them knew it. 'Skeletons?' Mojiretsu thought aloud, trying to figure out something. Boruto smirked and clicked his fingers, forming finger guns. 'Bingo.' He turned it off and took it back to Firu's desk, putting it back down with headphones and charger now attached. 'I swear there weren't any electrical sockets here?' Shimonzu shrugged. 'I dunno. Couldn't find any, but I bet Mono-whatever'll tell us at some point, probably so we can't commit suicide instead by sticking a fork into one.'

Then, the group heard a knock at the door, with a muffled female voice on the other side. 'Hello? Umm, I heard you talking, How many of you are in there?' The boys except for Mojiretsu, Reta and Firu quickly rushed out of sight just in case. 'Not that many, it's fine. What do you need?' The muffled female voice on the other side of the closed door sighed, though it was barely audible. Firu slowly opened his door a crack, only showing his eyes, seeing a brown-haired, green-clad girl looking slightly annoyed and awkward at the same time. 'Hey, I know there's at least four of you in there. Just... look. I heard something about an MP3 player through the walls. Don't judge me when I say I did put an ear up to the wall, okay. People did give me a weird look as they walked by. Especially Tetori. I think she hates me. Anyway, off topic. Yeah, that player's mine. If you don't believe me, it's white, has a small screen, should have a pair of white earphones attached, plus a charger. Fifth track down should begin with M-E, right? That's probably what you found and listened to.' He nodded, before opening the door. 'Ah, guess there's six.' She looked around, spotting the group. The Rugby Star, Drummer, Linguist, Archer, Free Runner, then Lucky Student. Handing back her player with a smile and a nod, she looked around once more, then back at the the Rugby Star who handed her the item.

'Well, I hope you're not all banding together to kill me or something. I am not being someone's victim or killer. Anyways, night time's soon, so I'll be heading back. Kerumo said I could add any track I wanted to it, and she showed me where a socket was, but I'm not telling just in case.' She walked away, stopping just before getting to the hallway. 'If anything does happen to anyone, I sure as hell am going to make the one who did it pay. Though I guess, that's Monokuma's job if you know what I mean.' With that, she walked back out, and went back into her own room, the group hearing the click of her locking the door. Shortly after, just like she had said, the night time announcement went off.

*ding dong Ding dong*

_'It is now ten pm, and it is officially night time! Some areas will be closed off, so don't go trying to get in! Good night, sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!'_

The monitor in Firu's room flicked off as the bear's jovial voice faded out. 'I guess we should get some sleep and try and do something tomorrow. I've already got something planned, but I don't know who else will he asked.' Reta said. 'Well, good night.' Boruto said in response as the rest walked out of the room. 'Get some sleep, alright? Don't worry.' Firu nodded at Mojiretsu's final statement before closing and locking his door, leaving the Lucky Student alone to go back to his own room.

'I guess I should get some sleep. Maybe... things will be better.'


	9. Baking makeovers

He awoke. It was but the third day, yet he felt off. Off as in nervous, fearful even. What if someone actually thought of the motive and killed someone? Then, another thought swam across his mind. He'd woken earlier than the announcement. That was new. Mojiretsu sighed, then rolled out of bed and got changed as per now his usual, putting his handbook into his pocket and keys as well. Then, he heard something else. That Something being the thing that initially woke him up in the first place, and that... that was a knocking on his door. He stood up from his chair having just done his shoelaces, then approached the door, opening it to find Tana falling to his left, having just leant on the door. 'Oof! That hurt...' She pushed herself up, then stood up with her hand on her head. 'I'm okay...' she nodded, shaking her head vigorously before holding out a book. 'Hey, so... Susoage gave this back to me, so I thought we could possibly do a get-together with a few more people. I'm aiming for eight, so things don't get as cluttered around, including me, so if you'd like to have a couple hours of fun, come to the dining hall at three pm, a little after lunch. Or you could just stick around, you know. Alright, I better get going. You coming to the dining hall for breakfast?'

Mojiretsu nodded, then proceeded to head to the dining hall for his second ever breakfast at Sanctuary Academy.

The day passed by before his eyes, so quickly, yet he still remembered hanging out with a couple people, reading a bit with Boruto and Reta, watching Kosako work out at the gym with her MP3, seeing Tana giving Shutain a sewing kit that was probably in her own room and then also seeing Sugi with Tetori, Shimonzu, Naruhodo and Mashu in the gymnasium laughing and chatting. Soon enough, lunch was already over, so the Lucky Student anticipated the three pm event that Tana had invited him to, plus apparently six others as she had said she was aiming for. He closed his eyes, now in his own room once more, then looked at the clock that was on the wall above his bed. It was now two thirty, so he thought he would leave in around fifteen minutes. Looking once again at the clock, they all seemed to have that half black, half white design, just like Monokuma, the tougher one out of the two robotic animals. Minutes ticked by, as he fell onto his back on his bed once more. 'Come on...' Tick... Tick... Tick... Tick... Tick... The clock ticked as further time passed, an endless cycle of boredom until...

'Finally.' Mojiretsu looked up to the clock once more, seeing the hands pointing. Two forty five. Quarter to three. He stood from his bed, got out his keys, exited his room, then made his way to the dining hall once more, just like Tana had asked before. He didn't know whether she was actually asking just him, or whether she did actually invite six more people along with her for the event that she had planned. He wandered down the hallway, spotting a person here and there, yet none really looked interested in leaving or taking notice of him. Looking around, he finally found the dining hall, and when he stepped inside...

He found four people already there. Those people being Shutain, Kosako, Tana and Reta. 'Hey Mojiretsu, should be three people coming up sooner or later, I told them to come around now, so yeah.' Tana put a hand on the Lucky Student's shoulder. 'Have a look around at the stuff if you want. Kerumo helped me set up some stuff for some reason. Apparently Monokuma went off and started shouting at some other people once he left here, thinking we were all doing something suspicious. It's literally just going to be some baking and Shutain said she'd been making clothes, and now with her sewing kit she can add a load of extra stuff to it, so she's making clothes, makeup, and all that jazz for anyone who wants it, you know. She enjoys that kind of thing, so I thought it would be a good idea, to get her involved a bit more.' As she said that, Susoage was the next to walk into the dining hall, giving a small wave before sitting down next to Kosako and Reta, then the other two, being Shimonzu and Mashu, came in together, chatting and both with gym bags on their shoulders, presumably have worked out together or something similar, with Mashu's bag being a light blue, then Shimonzu's being more of a lime green.

'Sorry if we're a little late-- Heeey, are we cooking stuff?' Mashu looked around and stepped back to look at how the kitchen doors had been held open and various ingredients lay around on the worktops. 'Yeah, if you want to! By the way, Susoage?' 'Yeah?' The Racer answered, looking up a little at the Animal Keeper. 'I remember you saying something at breakfast yesterday... You're lactose intolerant, right? Don't worry at all.' She held up a white and red carton. 'Weeeellll... My older sister's Lactose intolerant too. Specific proteins in cow's milk, right? Well... If you're okay with either Goat, Buffalo, or a substitute like Soy or Coconut, we could use that in baking instead, as I've baked with all four things I've listed just now.' Susoage smiled. 'Thanks. I'm fine with all the options, but I think goats milk is best personally, if you're alright with that.' Tana grinned. 'You sure as hell can have that!' She shook the carton in her hand a little. 'Got it for ya right here!' She plonked the goat's milk carton on one of the dining room tables. 'Let's use this one! Shutain, can you set up some stuff over there, can everyone else grab the ingredients I got out for us?' The rest of the group, including Mojiretsu, grabbed various ingredients used for cakes and biscuits that Tana had already gotten out previously. While that happened, Shutain pulled Kosako aside, and grinned as Kosako seemed to look a mix of scared, embarrassed and annoyed. 'Hey! I do want to bake, you know!' Shutain giggled a little, far more schoolgirly than her personality would suggest. 'Come on! It's not going to hurt you!' With that, Shutain dragged the Engineeraway and out of the room, along with a case full of... something, as Kosako protested.

While that happened, the rest continued to place the ingredients over the large table, which could accommodate all eight of them if it wanted to, and the group decided to place bags in one corner, and think about what they were going to do and make. The next moment, the Animal Keeper herself, Ansutana Bioretto, came out of the kitchen with a cream apron on, her hamster Teasel in her right hand, and her left hand on her hip. She then proceeded to place her hamster on the table next door, and gesture to her apron. 'So. There's a draw with different colours of apron, that I asked Kerumo earlier to label with the word Aprons so that nobody misses it. There are quite a few colours of apron, and there's ten colours, all in twos which are in boxes and folded, and as you can see, I'm wearing the cream one.' She pointed towards her own apron she was wearing. 'By the way, there's a curtain-kinda thing covering a hook near the middle-back of the kitchen to the right, and I'll be hanging up both the cream ones there so I don't have to keep going into the draw, if that's okay. I've kinda acquired that colour. If you wanna use that colour, ask me, because I sure as hell will search high and low if someone steals it or doesn't ask me before using, alright?' She gave a sheepish smile. 'Sorry, Baking and cooking's kinda my stress relief and leisure, so I might be in here a load, as well as quite a few others, but I'm not telling the others where my apron is, okay?' The others nodded, as Tana spoke once more. 'Though then again, if I'm dealing with less messy stuff I probably won't wear my apron, so yeah. If everyone goes into the kitchen and grabs an apron in whichever colour you want, you can tie it or get someone else to help. Alright.'

The group, besides Kosako and Shutain who were out of the room, and Tana who already had an apron on, filed into the kitchen, found the draw, and grabbed different colours of aprons. As people tied their own, some tied each other's, and all five exited the room, they came back to the dining hall and the table that the baking equipment and ingredients were set up. Reta was in a white apron, Shimonzu was in a grey apron, Mashu was in a purple apron, Susoage was in a red apron, and then Mojiretsu was in a yellow apron himself. With everyone's sleeves rolled up, hair tied up if necessary etcetera, the six gathered around the table in a circle, with Tana, Susoage, Mojiretsu, Shimonzu, Mashu, then Reta, going clockwise. All of them then decided on things to make, with both Tana and Susoage making cakes iced in different colours, one in red for Susoage using goat's milk, and one in blue for Tana using cow's milk. They both decided then to make a large. Cake each, for they could cut it into eight slices each when they were done, so everyone could have a slice. Both cakes would taste identical, and then the icing would be used to help Susoage as he made his cake,and it would help him recognise it. Mojiretsu and Shimonzu decided to bake cookies, with Shimonzu making triple chocolate, and Mojiretsu making chocolate chip ones himself, as those were his favourite. As for Mashu and Reta, they decided on making gingerbread, making various shapes, and one gingerbread man or woman for each of them, trying to work things out with colours and what people liked, even if their present knowledge was limited.

While the six were making their confectioneries and almost finishing, in came Shutain, still dragging Kosako along, now looking more embarrassed than ever, her face going almost full-on tomato red. 'I don't like this.' She huffed out, now where everyone could see her, still embarrassed. The group looked at her, and gave her a mixed bag of emotions. Some trying to hold in a laugh, some smiling, and some in shock. 'Wow Kosako, you look—' Mashu was cut off by the Engineer. 'Weird. I know. Shutain said it looked good and shoved me in it. Then she insisted on doing my hair and for some reason makeup. I refused the mascara or blush though. I've got weird skin and I just hate mascara.' Mojiretsu looked up at her, looking at her new apparel. She was wearing a silver dress with a skirt that poofed out just like Shutain's around her knees, with no sleeves and a little sparkle and ribbon around the end of the skirt plus some sparkle all along the dress as well. Her hair was no longer messy and down, and was now up in a wavy side ponytail with her hair pulled slightly to one side, so some loose parts hung. She also seemed to wear some silver eyeshadow that complimented her blue eyes, as well as a little lipstick. 'I am very uncomfortable right now. Can I please get this off, Shutain? Sure sometimes I could wear something like this, but I am not wearing a dress at a time like this!' After the Engineer said that, she quickly took out the bobble from her hair and shook it, wrapping the grey bobble around her wrist, then looking down. 'At least the boots fit with it, y'know. Hey Shutain? Mind if I keep this? If we all manage to get out of here, I could wear it to something.' Shutain smiled and nodded. 'Of course!' Her voice then lowered to a whisper. 'I'm glad you at least like it. I thought you'd hate it or something.' Her voice then raised again. 'Come on, we'll get you changed again.' She then looked back. 'If anyone wants makeup doing, or anything like that, just holler me over!'

The rest went back to making their treats as the duo finally came back in once more, Shutain looking fashionable as always, and Kosako looking more like her normal self, but still with a little makeup on. 'What? The silver works, okay?' She laughed a little. 'Okay, I'm ready to help out a bit. Where's the aprons?' Tana looked up, then walked to the kitchen with her. 'Guys, I'll be back in a sec. Shutain, can you come too?' The three then entered the area as the Animal Keeper pointed to a draw labelled 'Aprons', then pulled open the draw. 'There's quite a few colours, but if you wanna use a cream one, it's behind that cloth on a hook. Please ask before you use it, Kay? I sure as hell will search high and low because that's the colour I've got now and will use quite a bit.' The Engineer and Model nodded, both rolling up or folding sleeves and wearing an apron, Shutain in a white one and Kosako in a grey one. They both headed out, with Kosako helping Tana and Susoage with their cakes, then Shutain helping out with the gingerbread.

Soon after, all the things were complete and iced, and everyone helped put everything away. Tana called upon Kerumo to put all the things somewhere and get them out after dinner, as it was only an hour before then, and the cat did as asked. It had been so long with many events along the way, including Reta having a little mascara and eyeshadow himself, as Shutain had offered. The group continued to chat for an hour until Kerumo called for dinnertime, when all the other students filed in and sat together once more for what they were having for dinner that night. The sixteen, having slightly forgotten about the motive presented the day before, resorted to chatting and laughing as if they'd been friends for years, instead of only almost three days, counting the first day when they had been locked in classrooms with their memories erased of the past three years. Afterwards, Tana looked up and glanced at Mojiretsu, Mashu, Shutain, Kosako, Shimonzu, Susoage, and Reta, who still had his makeup on and was complimented by both males and females. The Animal Keeper then gestured to the kitchen, which the others nodded and headed towards the space to retrieve the things they had made.

'Alright!' Shutain spoke towards everyone as the other seven got their products of baking. 'Me, Kosako, Tana, Mojiretsu, Susoage, Reta, Shimonzu and Mashu have been very hard at work making some things for after dinner this afternoon! Everyone, behold the confectionaries!' The group looked around to see the group bringing in plates and trays of cakes, cookies and gingerbread. 'What do you think?' The group looked in awe and shock at the things they were made, delighted that a group like them could do well with each other. Setting the different items on another table, Tana proceeded to cut the blue iced cake into eight, Susoage did the same with the red one, Kosako, Shimonzu, and Mojiretsu set out the cookies, then Mashu, Reta and Shutain set up the gingerbread. 'Go on everyone! Take a slice, some cookies and some gingerbread!' Mashu said in delight, picking up a piece of gingerbread she had made. 'Also,' Reta spoke next. 'Everyone has a mini gingerbread person of themselves, which is for them! That's why Mashu and I went around asking people's favourite things to put on them.' The group immediately got up from their seats and started feasting on the confectioneries, munching on cookies, chewing on gingerbread, nibbling down on cake, and each item tasted like heaven came to your mouth.

At that point, the bear and cat appeared.

'What'cha doing having a feast without old Monokuma?! Let me at it!' At that point, Kerumo put her hand, or rather paw, out, then spoke in a tone only audible to the bear. 'Let them at least have a time where they feel good. You can have your despair. Just let them build at least some hope.' She sighed. 'You know what will happen eventually. Just wait. Let them live.' The bear looked over. 'Fine.' He spat begrudgingly. As that happened, the group finished up, and did what they could do as free time before heading back to their rooms for when the night time announcement went off.

Mojiretsu went back to his, thinking about how good a day it had been. If every day could be like that, having fun, learning a lesson or two, living out his best life, it would be amazing. But then again, his new life was supposed to be encompassed and surrounded by a supposed killing game that Monokuma and Kerumo had set up. He didn't know what to do. Nothing. He lay on his back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, then back at the clock. Ten thirty pm. He should get some sleep. Even if it wasn't as late as he would get to bed normally, there was hardly anything to keep him occupied as of yet, and it felt way later than normal. He lay there, drifting off into a restful sleep amongst the silence.

*Ding Dong Ding Dong*

_'Ehem! It is now seven am, rise and shine! Time for another be-yew-tiful day!'_

It had been hours since the Lucky Student had gotten to bed, so he woke up to the announcement, got changed once more and sat on his bed for a moment to catch his breath. 'Let's go. Another day, another thing I can do, another person I could hang out with.' He stood up, making sure he had his keys and handbook, and headed out, closing and locking the door behind him. As he headed down to the dining hall for the next breakfast, he found something rather odd. Only three other people were in the dining hall, being Sugi, Susoage and Kosako. 'Where's everyone else?' 'No clue.' Sugi replied. 'I thought there'd be more people, but I don't know why hardly any of us are here. I'm sure the announcement went off... right?' She carried on. 'I don't know. Is there an event somewhere that we all need to go to, such as when we were all in the gym? Some callings are apparently mandatory.' Susoage spoke, looking around. 'I didn't hear anything. Are people sleeping in or waiting to surprise us?' Kosako asked. At that moment, two more people walked in, being Naruhodo and Boruto. 'Hey, what's with the lack of people?' Boruto questioned, lookingaround in uncertainty. 'I don't know. Maybe we should wait a bit.' Mojiretsu replied as the two stood around.

After waiting for an hour, without anyone eating everyone, only ten people stood in the dining hall. Mojiretsu, Kosako, Sugi, Susoage, Boruto, Naruhodo, Reta, Mashu, Musoko and Tetori were there, yet Tana, Inatsu, Firu, Shimonzu, Yusaburo and Shutain were still missing. 'Six missing? Isn't that suspicious by now?' Musoko questioned. 'I told you all. I told you and no one believed me. Well look where you've all gone to. Playing stupid games and having constant leisure, I wouldn't be surprised if something happened.' She turned away. 'And I swear to God if my brother's hurt...' she clenched her fists. 'Someone's paying for it, preferably in one of that stupid bear's punishments.' 'Hey now.' Kosako rivalled. 'It's fine. Remember the second day. People came in an hour late before, and they went to the gym, library, and other things. It's fine.' 'But what if it's not? What if everything is well and truly screwed up, we're screwed over, and there's no choice other than death, huh?' 'Well, if there's a problem, I'll be there. I'll be by everyone's side. And when or even if the time comes, we'll face the trials. We'll face the Blackened and we'll show them that what they did was wrong, and they might even deserve what they get. You could just stand here forcing mistrust, or you could actually be damn helpful and cooperate with people for once.' The Engineer and Prosecutor locked eyes for a moment, before Sugi broke them up. 'Girls, everything's going to be okay, okay? Let's see who's missing.' Naruhodo spoke up next. 'It's Shimonzu, Firu, Shutain, Ansutana, Inatsu and Yusaburo. They're the only six not here.' 'Only six? That's almost half of us!' Mashu interrupted.

Then, a scream erupted from the direction of the dorms.

'I'll go.' Mojiretsu said. 'Everyone stay back just in case.' Kosako said to him and the others. 'Don't worry, you're not going alone. I'm coming too.' She said afterwards. The two ran out of the dining hall and towards the dorm hallway, Kosako being a little slower, and when they came, they saw it was less of screaming, but it was Tana in shambles, kneeling down and shouting, talking to herself. 'Wha— What the hell... I think I'm gonna puke.' She clamped her right hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes while facing an open door, with the nameplate not visible for now. 'Tana... what's going on?' Mojiretsu asked, looking down at her. She looked up, her eyes still tearful. 'You can't handle... because I sure as heck couldn't...' she broke down again, this time letting the tears fall. 'I'm not going back in there... not now...' she planted her head against the floor as the Lucky Student and Engineer pushed past her, into the room.

The two burst in, and looked to the right.

The Immediate shock hit.

This couldn't be real.

This couldn't be real.

This couldn't be real.

This couldn't be—


	10. The first murder

Blood.

A sea of Red.

Blood, pooling and dripping on the ground.

Blood, amongst a familiar face embraced in death.

This was too much to handle.

It was Firu.

Kosako gasped in shock, a look of pure fear on her face. 'Who the hell would do this...' 'Firu... Oh God...' Looking further towards him, the two saw his fatal injuries. Glass shards around his body having been hit with something of the variety, and a single Iron skewer piercing his chest. 'He's...' 'Dead.' Tana interrupted, now stood up and wiping her tears from her eyes with her scarf. 'I was alone when I came to the dining hall this morning, but I saw Susoage and Kosako head in as soon as I left, so that was fine.' She sniffled, gesturing over to Kosako. 'I was coming back to the dining hall when I heard from you ten that six people were still missing including myself, so I went to look for at least one of them. Came to Firu's room, saw it was unlocked, opened the door, and there he was. Hit on the head and stabbed once. I literally rushed out and collapsed right outside his open room.' She shook her head while looking down. Firuduwasu Kamaru, otherwise known as Firu. The Ultimate Rugby Star. He helped everyone, was a moral person who kept things on track, an amazing friend... and now he lay there. Dead. Dead, in the middle of his room. At that moment, Mojiretsu's handbook did something weird. 'Bullet section unlocked?' He flicked onto the new section, before coming across a section that said C1. He flicked on it, finding a single item called a truth bullet. 'Ansutana's account?' He put his handbook away. Then, something unexpected jump scared the three. The monitor flicked on.

_*Ding Dong Dong Ding*_

_'A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin! Everyone, head to the dorm hallway!'_

Monokuma's voice rang out, then as the monitor fizzled out once more, the bear himself showed up. 'Well well well! It's about time we got to the fun part!' 'What the hell? Is this all some joke to you?' Tana shouted, almost ready to punch the bear into oblivion. The bear retaliated. 'Violence against headmaster Monokuma is not allowed! If you're thinking of hurting me, then you better think again! Rule seven! Rule seven! Remember it's grounds for punishment... Puhuhu...' The bear snarled, then pulled out a small handbook, similar to the E-Handbooks all sixteen students owned. 'It's... The Monokuma file! Have fun!' He disappeared once more, as the rest of the students started rushing in. 'What's going on... Agh! What the hell?!' Tetori shouted, her eyes, and everyone else's eyes, falling on Firu's dead body. 'Is that a dead body? Like... Is he... Dead?' Mashu asked in horror. What came next was a lot of shouting, screaming, crying, and other things coming from the now fifteen members of the group, down by one. 'So... What do we do? He just got killed, and does that mean... It's one of us?' Sugi asked. 'You mean someone fell for Monokuma's motive? That's just horrible...' Naruhodo said afterwards. 'He was an amazing person as well, a great friend... why would someone kill him?' He carried on. 'Monokuma gave us this file... should we read it?' Mojiretsu asked. 'Apparently it's something to do with Firu's death and this stupid class trial system.' Kosako explained.

Various members of the group split up after that suggestion. Some, such as Susoage, Kosako and Mojiretsu decided to read the file, some such as Tana, Inatsu, Shimonzu and Naruhodo decided to start investigating the room and body, and some such as Musoko, Sugi and Yusaburo decided to exit the room and investigate other matters. The group in the room either investigating or standing around the file listened to Mojiretsu reading it out loud.

'Case one. The Victim was Firuduwasu Kamaru, the Ultimate Rugby Star. Six foot or one hundred and eighty four centimetres tall, birthday June twenty third, Cancer. The victim had injuries in two places, being the head and the chest. The head is a result of blunt force trauma with an object, and the chest is the result of either a stab or pierce wound. On top of that, glass shards and shrapnel was found on and around the victim's body. The location of the murder took place in Firuduwasu's room on the first floor, in the dorm hallway, and the estimated time of death is eleven thirty pm.'

The group looked at the file. 'Well... that's not really that much to go on, is it? Is that all it says?' Susoage asked, trying to scroll up and down, only being able to find a picture of Firu normally, and a picture of his body that somehow Monokuma managed to get, though he was a robot himself, so might have a camera attached, as well as the cameras and monitors throughout the Academy. 'The camera in his room probably captured everything, and that's how Monokuma, Kerumo, and the Mastermind know all about this.' Shimonzu pointed to the camera in the Rugby Star's room. The rest of the group looked around at him, then the camera, then around to what they were doing before. 'Mastermind?' Susoage asked. Seen as he was not one of the ones who had met up two nights prior, he had not been informed of the deal of the mastermind, or whom they had named the person controlling the events of the game. 'It's what we're calling the person controlling the game, the one who set all this stuff up, and the one who's controlling Monokuma and Kerumo.' Naruhodo replied, answering the question. 'Ohhh... like that killing game... right...' 'Wait? What do you mean killing game?' Naruhodo looked at Susoage, an ounce of confusion spreading across his face. 'You do know what Hope's peak did to a group of students in the tragedy, right? Jeez. I'm surprised not too many people know, or rather most know some varying degree of it. Like Mojiretsu, Inatsu, the late Firuduwasu and I seem to have known the most. It seems that many of our group know a little, or do not know anything at all. That would explain something.' Susoage thought long and hard. 'I won't explain it then. Things will draw out in due time.' The rest of the group looked at him in confusion as he crouched down and looked at the Rugby Star's body, then around the room.

'Look.' Tana pointed to something broken on the ground amongst Firu's blood. She carefully stepped next to the Racer and Firu's body, her hamster Teasel popping out of her scarf. 'I think that's what he was hit over the head with. Not all of it's broken, and it's made of glass. Can someone fetch me a bag or something?' She looked down. 'Actually... we don't want anyone contaminating the evidence. I don't think it's best to call Monokuma, but...' she looked down at the object again. 'It would be better to call Kerumo.' She walked away for a few steps, then cupped her hands over her mouth. 'Kerumo, we need a little help!' As soon as she said that, the cat herself popped up, and went wide eyed. 'I was hoping this wouldn't happen... oh well, what do you need me for?' She asked the animal keeper. 'Kerumo, would you mind fetching a clear bag and some disposable gloves if you have any? It's so we can store evidence without getting fingerprints and stuff.' The group looked at her. 'What? It's the best thing to do, isn't it? You never know if they have that kind of technology here, which would make it a bit easier. I don't think they do though, as I've looked around pretty much everywhere.' She sighed. 'Also, we don't want to cut our fingers on anything and create any more blood and injury than we already have.'

'Alright!' The cat replied, before popping down, then back up, holding a box of disposable gloves, and a box of clear bags. 'This what you needed?' Immediately, the Animal keeper took them off her, smiled, nodded, then opened the boxes, setting them down on a table not covered in anything. 'Right now, this is our evidence table. You find evidence, we can put it in a bag and seal it. Right now, I think the pads also record evidence, as I saw Mojiretsu's pad confirm my account as evidence.' Mojiretsu nodded, then looked down at his pad which he had just gotten out. He flicked to the bullet section once more, then found something else had been added. Not only did it say 'Ansutana's account', but it also said 'Monokuma File #1', 'Firuduwasu's room', 'Head injury' and 'Chest injury'. 'Yeah. Tana's right. If we find something that could potentially be used as evidence, it looks like our handbooks update as well. I'm not sure if we physically have to see the evidence, but I'm assuming so.' As he said that, Tana had opened a bag, put it on the table, slipped on a pair of gloves, and picked up the blood-covered object that was used to hit Firu. It seemed to be made of glass, and had rather curved edges. It looked smooth and clear, with one unbroken part on the bottom which was flat, meaning it was able to stand. Also, it seemed to have some sort of writing, yet it was unintelligible as parts were either broken or blood-soaked from hitting Firu's head. Tana wiped away some of the blood where the writing seemed to be, then managed to get a darker shade, meaning the group was able to read it.

'Susoage, can you read it?' The racer nodded, then squinted his eyes as he looked at the small writing. 'It looks like it's his name, but some's covered in blood and some's broken off. It says ruduwa... amar... then the rest's kinda smeared, but I can assume it's his name. It also says the word Year on it, so I'm assuming it's some sort of achievement or trophy maybe. Wait.' The group looked at him before Inatsu asked him a question. 'What is it? What have you found?' Susoage looked up. 'If this trophy has Firu's name on it, and this is Firu's room... did someone give this to him? And if so, we need to find out who had it. If we find out that, we may be able to find out a killer or potential accomplice.' 'But... accomplices get nothing out of it, and it could have just been something he had previously got as well, right? The killer could've taken advantage and used the things in his room to do it.' Naruhodo argued, making a valid point. 'True... Speaking of items, what's that one on his desk over there? It seems one's been taken, any clue to what that or the other item was?' Susoage asked once more. This time, Kosako was the one to speak up.

'The missing thing is my MP3 player that I got from Firu I think a couple days ago now, the other thing is...' Inatsu went up to it. 'Mine.' The group looked at her. 'Well, at least I have both my items back. It's a multi-purpose tool. It's not just a knife, everyone.' The rest of the group in the room nodded, as Inatsu flicked out each tool. 'They are all unused, with no signs of blood nor any signs of any of the tools being bent or worn at all either. I don't think this was used at all.' The unknown ultimate flipped the Swiss Army knife back and slid it into her pocket, holding on to it. As that happened, the group heard a thump, and a movement between liquids. 'What the heck are you doing?' Shimonzu asked, now looking at Tana now putting the skewer into a bag. 'We already have the photo, and we know where he was stabbed. We can clearly say this is evidence. So, I put it in a bag where the evidence goes.' Mojiretsu closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Okay. Should we split up?' He asked to the group, looking around. 'That way, we can see what everyone else is doing, and we can investigate further.' Susoage nodded slightly at his statement.

'I think that's a good idea. Splitting into a three and a four would be the best choice, as we can have almost halves.' The Racer answered. 'How about I stay with Naruhodo and Shimonzu in the room, and you four go off.' Inatsu said, looking up. 'That way, we can stay with Firu, find more evidence, and protect anything from being stolen from the scene. Plus, I've got my items now. I'll protect things with these two, and you four can go off. I think it's the best option.' The Unknown ultimate smiled a little, and nodded as Tana, Mojiretsu, Kosako and Susoage headed out of Firu's room.

With the click of the door, the four stood outside the empty corridor. Silent. 'So, where do we go from here?' Kosako asked, looking around, before the group heard another click of a door, and three people came out of one of the rooms, those people being Yusaburo Rogan, Musoko Chari, and Sugi Sessusha. Musoko looked deep in thought, uttering out the words 'Yes... it's just as I expected. This really makes this harder...' 'What does?' Kosako looked at the prosecutor, then Musoko looked back at the engineer, both looking each other up and down. 'Look. Musoko, I'm willing to hear you out and cooperate. We should all be working together, so I think we should find out things. And that means all of us. Once you guys share what you found, I'll let those three go off,' Kosako gestured to the Lucky Student, animal keeper and Racer, 'and I'll share everything I know with you.' Musoko thought for a moment. 'Okay.' She nodded, then looked back to the two she was with. 'I thought of something which would make sense, but I didn't know whether it would be true, yet now I, plus Yusaburo and Sugi, have investigated that fact and proved that to be true.' 'And that is?' The Animal Keeper asked, awaiting the answer that the Prosecutor had promised.

'All the rooms are entirely soundproof.' She said, smirking as she had found something that no one else had. 'Actually...' She stopped to think for a moment. 'There is one point that is slightly susceptible, but it's only muffled and faint. Even if you scream out here in the corridor, it would be highly unlikely that anyone would be able to hear you if their doors were closed, and especially at night.' The group nodded, then Kosako piped up. 'You're talking about the door... right?' The Prosecutor nodded. 'Why yes... how on earth did you find that point? I'm just curious.' 'Well, about two nights ago I passed by Firu's room, and I couldn't really hear anything walking down the corridor. My room was pretty close as I was going to get in, so I pulled out my keys from my pocket while I stood outside his room. Then, I heard very very muffled and quiet voices, so I pressed my ear up against the door. That's when Sugi and Tetori walked by which probably made them think I was crazy.' 'Crazy? No, no, I didn't think you were crazy.' Sugi answered. 'Considering the thing we're in right now, someone could have been murdered right there and then, and being able to listen in at that point would've been so much evidence. Guess they weren't kinda murdered there and then though...' Musoko waved her hand dismissively.

'As I was saying, the door is the only susceptible point. Meaning...' She thought for a moment. 'The killer, or Blackened as Monokuma and Kerumo are calling them, could have easily listened to who was awake at that point in the night by just pressing their ear up against each door and listening for any sounds of movement or speech.' Her twin nodded. 'That's exactly what I was thinking as well. When you four were in the room with Inatsu, Shimonzu and Naruhodo, and the door was open, I was standing outside in the corridor and I listened in a little. I heard about the weapon used to the head, and I believed that either it was to show something about the room, or to frame Firuduwasu for murder by using an item belonging to him, then anonymously leaving said item in Firuduwasu's Room. Unfortunately for the Blackened, however, the target ended up being the Rugby Star himself, meaning they couldn't frame him for the murder.' Mojiretsu nodded, listening to the conversation yet silent, watching it happen and recounting each piece of evidence both in his brain and on his E-Handbook. Thinking about it, he zoned out a little, thinking to himself as points of conversation occurred that he didn't deem necessary looking at the topic. Yet... it could have been.

'—And, they could have just thrown it.'

'What?'

Mojiretsu looked towards Ansutana, who had made that statement. 'Did you zone out? Jeez...let me go over that for anyone who wasn't listening. That means you, lucky boy.' She sighed. 'Before Kosako introduces this trio to the crime scene, we were talking about the blunt force trauma weapon.' 'You mean the—' 'Yes, we know, the glass-whatever-it-is. Anyway, we were just discussing how the weapon could have been used. Yusaburo and Sugi suggested hitting someone over the head with it, Susoage suggested dropping it on their head, but I don't know how someone would set that up, especially with a shape such as that, then I proposed throwing the item just now, though looking back at it makes me think that it is possible, but, they'd need impeccable aim and ideals to be able to hit their target so well, being Firu at this point. If that's the actual answer to what we've been looking for, that would narrow down our list of suspects I think just from the get go. I think we should investigate more however, so we can discuss everything further during the class trial.' Musoko nodded. 'Well said. Well Kosako, introduce us to the crime scene, then you can go off and investigate further. I look forward to working with you.'

Then, the groups split and went their two different ways.


End file.
